Dawgs Portal News: Terps QB Taulia Tagovailoa to Transfer!

Photo Credit Dominic Ambrose via College Football Dawgs

Maryland Terrapins senior quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa has entered the transfer portal. Having exhausted his eligibility, he will need a waiver to play a sixth season of college football.

The younger brother of Miami Dolphins’ quarterback Tua, Taulia began his career at Alabama in 2019, playing in five games. He transferred to Maryland prior to the Covid season of 2020 and played in only four games that year. The maximum number of games a player can play in a season before burning their redshirt is four games.

According to an article by ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Maryland filed the waiver request with the NCAA on Thursday. “It’s with the NCAA right now,” Tagovailoa said in an interview with Thamel. “We’re all just a waiting game on seeing if it gets approved or not.”

The reason Tagovailoa wants to return for another year of college football is he is looking to improve his draft stock. According to multiple outlets, Tagovailoa is projected as a day 3 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.

The crux of Tagovailoa’s argument is that in two of the five games he played for Alabama in 2019 he only played a total of four snaps. Two snaps against Mississippi State and two against Duke, both coming at the end of blowout wins by the Crimson Tide. When asked what his plea to the NCAA would be, Tagovailoa told Thamel that he would not want four snaps to “prevent me from playing another year of college football while beginning coursework for my master’s degree.”

Tagovailoa set the Big Ten Conference record for career passing yards with 11,256 over his four seasons at Maryland. He also is the all-time leader at Maryland in career touchdowns thrown with 76.

In five seasons, 2019 at Alabama and 2020-2023 at Maryland, Tagovailoa completed 67.1% of his passes for 11,356 yards with 77 touchdowns and 37 interceptions. Tagovailoa has also rushed for 13 touchdowns in his career.