On the eve of a day that might very well define Tua Tagovailoa’s career, there’s still doubt over the moment that will encapsulate his stellar sophomore season.
Saturday night, the Alabama quarterback will take center stage inside the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square. He’ll do so alongside fellow Heisman finalists Kyler Murray and Dwayne Haskins, who, like him, boast meritorious resumes.
All three quarterbacks will have their highlights cycled throughout various big screens over hours of pomp and ceremony. Through this point in their sterling seasons, each has compiled his fair share heroic displays.
However, the narrative of this particular award argues that the collection of those feats is frivolous to one distinct moment of excellence. Both Murray and Haskins have had their “Heisman moments.”
Murray’s came late in the fourth quarter of the Big 12 Championship game as the Oklahoma quarterback floated in a perfectly-placed fade route to tight end Grant Calcaterra for a touchdown to ice the Sooners’ 39-27 victory over Texas. Haskins’ moment also occurred last week as the Ohio State quarterback struck the famous Heisman pose following his fifth touchdown against Northwestern during the Buckeye’s 45-24 win over the Wildcats in the Big Ten title game.
Tagovailoa's lasting moment from last week's SEC Championship Game came as he hobbled off the field after having his ankle stepped on by offensive lineman Jonah Williams in the fourth quarter.
“Tua’s the best football player in the country,” Alabama running back Damien Harris argued after the title game. “I don’t think he needs a Heisman moment. That’s some made-up thing, criteria, that people have invented to try to get people an award if they necessarily deserve it or not.”
It’s not that Tagovailoa hasn’t produced his own strokes of brilliance. He’s had many of those. There was his no-look circus throw to Jerry Jeudy in Alabama’s season-opener against Louisville and his 44-yard touchdown run on a bum knee during a 29-0 blowout over LSU in Baton Rouge, La. Tagovailoa also broke Alabama’s single-game touchdown record with six against rival Auburn in the Iron Bowl.
Although, for whatever reason, none of those were deemed worthy of the elusive “Heisman-moment” status.
Perhaps it’s because none of those plays matched the desperation and drama seen during Tagovailoa’s game-winning 41-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith in overtime of last season’s national championship game. If that’s the case, the sophomore quarterback was doomed from the start.
While Tagovailoa’s introduction to the spotlight was steeped in tense moments, his sophomore season has been anything but. Through 13 games, Tagovailoa has attempted just eight fourth-quarter passes as his machine-like precision made way for a record 12 straight wins of 20 or more points to begin the year.
Even if Tagovailoa was needed late in games, the easygoing Hawaiian has a way of repelling any sense of tension.
“He’s got a very unique personality,” said Tim Tebow, a former Heisman winner at Florida turned ESPN analyst. “He’s a different dude, man. He’s a different guy to where he cares about it, but it’s not a high and low… He rises to the occasion. I don’t mean that he doesn’t care, it’s just that his heart rate doesn’t go up, and that’s very unique, and that’s special. I think that’s why you’ve been able to see him have that calmness.”
Outside of a few injury scares, the moments that have defined Tagovailoa this season have been predominantly void of stress. Following his record sixth touchdown against Auburn, the smiling quarterback was approached by Nick Saban attempted to congratulate him with a fist bump. Instead, Tagovailoa grabbed his head coach and went in for a hug.
The fun-loving antics have spilled over to Tagovailoa’s brief stints with the media. When asked early in the season to describe his Houdini-like escapes in the pocket he smiled and quipped back, “I don't know. Sometimes I drop back, and sometimes I just practice back-flipping and throwing, you know?”
“It’s his personality,” receiver Henry Ruggs III said earlier this season. "He’s coming out of his shell and showing his true personality. He’s a great person.”
Tagovailoa’s care-free nature is a stark contrast to the hard-nosed, stingy demeanor of past Alabama leaders. Not to say those players had any less influence on their teammates. However, at least on the surface, this year’s bunch seems to be having a bit more fun. That’s something that even his notoriously stern head coach has come to appreciate.
“I think that's part of being a team,” Saban said. “Being on a team is a lot like being in a family. Sometimes things go well in your family and everybody is happy, and sometimes things happen that aren't so good and you all have to persevere together. When some of the best players on your team are really good guys, that always makes for good team chemistry.”
Along with transforming Alabama’s demeanor, Tagovailoa has also helped reinvent the Crimson Tide’s offense. Thursday, the left-hander earned both the Maxwell and Walter Camp awards given to the nation’s top player. Tagovailoa has completed 67.7 percent of his passes for 3,353 yards and a school-record 37 touchdowns through the air. He also added 190 yards and five more touchdowns on the ground, giving him the single-season school record for most combined touchdowns with 42.
"It kind of shows in his numbers and our numbers too,” Ruggs said. “He's spreading the ball around and everybody's making plays when it's their time."
That transformation — both in spirit and production — is impossible to fit into a single moment. Tagovailoa’s impact is much more lasting than that.
“Tua’s the most deserving of the Heisman and I hope everybody sees it that way because what he’s done for our team, for our university, for our community, for our fans, for everybody, is just irreplaceable,” Harris said. “I hope that everybody realizes that.”
