Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa recalls hard lessons from the past
“How you do anything is how you do everything.”
The words of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s father have clearly stuck with him. As Tagovailoa enters the early stretches of his NFL career during the 2020 NFL season, there are plenty of pass lessons from Tagovailoa’s journey that can be applied to the here and now — and with a little bit of luck the Dolphins can see the successes of Tagovailoa’s past come into the present day as a result as well.
During a video interview with The Players’ Tribute, Tagovailoa speaks about his experiences playing for Coach Nick Saban at Alabama and his family dynamics with his father, who played a heavy hand in Tagovailoa’s development as a quarterback. The Miami rookie speaks about trips to the beach — not for fun, but rather to work out on the sand and practice footwork.
First or second-string made no difference to @Tua's work ethic.
He prepared for each game like he was the starting quarterback.
The @NFL rookie gives an inside look at the mindset driving his football career.
In partnership with @NationalGuard. pic.twitter.com/jkTgwO9Bao
— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) September 17, 2020
All of those hours of “lonely work”, as Tagovailoa puts it, helped bring him to the University of Alabama — and in his freshman season the left-handed quarterback found himself in a similar situation to where he is now with the Miami Dolphins: as a backup quarterback. Tagovailoa speaks about his freshman year and recalls how important it was for him to lean how to prepare week to week for the next opponent. One would figure he’s applying that some methodology to his process of getting better behind Ryan Fitzpatrick early on in his NFL career.
The Dolphins’ season is just one game old. But if the Dolphins continue to stumble out of the gate, we may see a transition much like the one Alabama made at halftime of the National Championship Game in early 2018 — the game that thrust Tagovailoa into the national spotlight. If Miami’s new franchise quarterback can draw upon and apply all his old lessons of the past to the year 2020, maybe he can bring a little bit of that magic on the field with him too — but he’s biding his time.
For now.
