Tua Tagovailoa watch ends, NFL decision comes today - AL.com

Weeks of speculation, rumors and ambiguous social media posts come down to this.

Tua Tagovailoa will announce a verdict in perhaps college football’s most anticipated NFL draft decision Monday morning in Tuscaloosa. A news conference announced by Alabama on Sunday lists Nick Saban and Tagovailoa as the two participants in the event starting at 11 a.m. CT.

It will be the culmination of a nearly two-month process that nobody involved anticipated before November. A No. 1 overall selection was the projection for Alabama’s junior quarterback before disaster struck in Starkville. A dislocated and fractured hip suffered just before halftime in a blowout Alabama win changed the trajectory -- at least for the time -- of the young quarterback’s career.

Already dealing with durability concerns after three ankle sprains in less than a year, the hip injury adds another degree of uncertainty. AL.com reported in November that expected recovery time would allow for a return to football-related activities within six to eight months of the injury. That would put him back on the field in the April to June range -- after the bulk of the NFL draft evaluation process is complete ahead of the April 23 first round.

Then on Friday, AL.com’s Matt Zenitz reported Tagovailoa was flying to New York to meet with doctors along with family and members of the Alabama medical staff concerning his draft decision.

Tagovailoa has been somewhat more reserved on social media since announcing Wednesday that Monday would be decision day. Before that, he posted ambiguous messages to his 268,000 Twitter followers about the decision at hand. Before the Citrus Bowl, Tagovailoa posted playful polls on his Instagram story asking if receiver Henry Ruggs would return to Alabama or declare for the NFL draft.

Much of the talk leading up to the Jan. 1 Citrus Bowl dealt with Alabama’s underclassmen and their decisions regarding the NFL draft. Nick Saban said there was only one Alabama player who received a top-15 grade when polling NFL teams and it was Tagovailoa.

“And that injury may affect his grade, unfortunately, for him, right now,” Saban said on his radio show live in an Orlando hotel ahead of the the game.

As of Monday morning, Tagovailoa and Ruggs remain among the undecided Alabama underclassmen. Since the season ended with a 35-16 beating of Michigan in Orlando, Jerry Jeudy, Jedrick Wills and Xavier McKinney declared for the NFL draft. Alex Leatherwood and Dylan Moses, the middle linebacker who had his own medical concerns, announced they’d be back for the 2020 season.

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook

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Tua Tagovailoa watch ends, NFL decision comes today - AL.com
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