Maryland head coach Michael Locksley showed once again May 15 why he's considered one of the nation's elite recruiters, landing a commitment from Alabama transfer quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, the younger brother of Tua Tagovailoa, the No. 5 overall pick in this year's NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins.
Tagovailoa, rated a four-star prospect by Rivals out of high school, comes to Maryland from Alabama and has three years of eligibility remaining.
“Taulia has outstanding field vision and excellent pocket awareness,” Locksley said in a statement. “He’s a twitchy passer that has the ability to make and extend plays in and outside of the pocket because of his above-average athleticism. Taulia has terrific touch and trajectory on his throws and delivers the ball with above-average accuracy. He’s a highly competitive player that will bring great competition to a good quarterback room.”
A 5-foot-11, 208-pound quarterback, Tagovailoa was impressive during the Tide's 2019 spring game and finished 9-of-12 for 100 yards in five regular season games played at Alabama during his true freshman season, where the Crimson Tide went 11-2 and won the Citrus Bowl.
"I'm so excited to start the next chapter of my career at the University of Maryland," said Tagovailoa. "I'm incredibly grateful to all of the amazing people at Alabama, but am also thrilled to join the Terrapin Football Family. I have a great relationship with Coach Locksley and am excited to see what he's building. I can't wait to be part of it and I plan on working incredibly hard both on and off the field to make my family, teammates, coaches and fans proud."
Before enrolling at Alabama, Tagovailoa was rated as the No. 11 dual-threat quarterback in the 2019 class by Rivals. He rewrote the Alabama high school record books as a senior after transferring from Hawaii, becoming the only quarterback in state history to have at least four 400-yard passing performances in his career, throwing for 3,728 yards and 35 touchdowns as a senior at Thompson High School in Alabama. Tagovailoa led Thompson to the 2018 Class 7A state championship and was selected to the Class 7A All-State first team in 2017.
Taulia's older brother Tua rewrote the Crimson Tide offensive record book in 2018 with Locksley as his offensive coordinator and play caller, throwing for 3,189 yards and a school-record 37 touchdowns as the Crimson Tide offense averaged 47.9 points and 527.6 yards per game. The Locksley-Tua Tagovailoa combination helped Alabama set school records for points scored (623), single-season total offense (6,859 yards) and passing yards (4,231) in a season.
With rising senior Josh Jackson and redshirt freshman Lance LeGendre as the only other scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, the addition of Tagovailoa is enormous for the Terps moving forward as they continue to upgrade the roster.
