Injured Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa came to a small stage on crutches and started talking about what coach Nick Saban might like: The Alabama team. But the questions quickly came to whether he will return for a final season with Alabama or declare for the NFL draft.
If he's a Top 10 or Top 15 draft pick, "that would be tough to pass up," going to the NFL, he said. But he also said there's more to his decision than just that.
"I don't want to say too much," he said Thursday in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
He doesn't have a timetable to announce the decision, he said. The junior has until Jan. 20 to declare for the draft as an underclassman.
"It's something I still need to sit down and talk to with my family," he said. "I really haven't had that opportunity because of the rehab I'm going under and I'm still trying to go to classes."
Tua said he wants to play next year somewhere, but also has to listen to doctors and his body with this injury.
"It's not something I can come back and play on like it was my ankle," he said.
He wanted one message out there, if just for the NFL to hear:
"I feel I'll be able to play 100% and the ability I know I can play at."
The Dolphins have three first-round draft picks and could take Tagovailoa and effectively grant him a redshirt year, if they so desire. Tagovailoa gave more expansive answers to ESPN on Wednesday about the decision ahead of him.
"When I kinda look at it, if I come back, the risk is what if I get hurt again? But the reward could be maybe I jump back to the top of the charts, or the boards for all these teams," he said.
"Now, you look at the other side of the spectrum if I leave. All the risk is do I still go in the first round or do I even make it to the second round? And these guys don't even know if I can play with the hip injury yet, too. And then, I'd say the reward in all that is yeah, I'll be getting paid millions but a lot of the money I could have made you can't make that money up now. That'd be me leaving money on the table."
