HOOVER, Ala. — Orange confetti rained from the sky.
Wandering off the field following Alabama’s 44-16 loss to Clemson in the 2019 College Football Playoff national title game, Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was enveloped by the storm of paper.
With a look of disappointment and despair peering through the eye-black crosses painted on his face, Tagovailoa had yet to fully process the throttling the Tigers had just doled out. It didn’t matter. He knew he hadn’t done enough.
“We had a great season, but five words: Good is not good enough,” Tagovailoa said postgame. “We didn’t finish the way we wanted to finish. We didn’t do the things we needed to do to execute and be successful in this game, and that’s all it is.”
Sitting at the podium in Hoover during SEC Media Days, he spoke on the pain the national title game had invoked. And while the contest still weighed heavy, it’s no longer a source of anguish. Rather, it serves as inspiration.
“I think it’s good to get both the opportunity to win and have the opportunity to lose as well,” Tagovailoa said. “I know this sounds bad, but I’m glad I had that opportunity to feel a loss like that because what can you learn from winning? Can’t learn as much. But when you lose you start appreciating things a lot more and definitely in a different perspective as well.”
Heading into his junior season, there’s little Tagovailoa hasn’t done in his short tenure in Tuscaloosa.
Stepping off the bench in the 2018 national title game, he guided the Crimson Tide to their fifth championship in 10 years despite seeing limited action all season behind incumbent starter Jalen Hurts.
The 2019 version of the left-handed Hawaiian entered 2019 with unparalleled hype — and, from a numbers perspective, he matched it.
Tagovailoa finished last year with 3,966 yards, 43 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He also completed 245 of his 355 attempts (69 percent) — giving him the fifth-best completion percentage in the country.
For context, his totals in passing yards, passing touchdowns, completion percentage and completions rank first, first, second and fourth in Alabama single-season history.
Then there were the awards. He was named the 2018 Walter Camp Player of the Year, took home the Maxwell Award and earned consensus All-American honors for his efforts.
So yes, aside from a Heisman trophy, there really isn’t anything he hasn’t done. But after falling 60 minutes short of college football’s zenith, a renewed and refocused Tagovailoa will lead the Crimson Tide into 2020.
“I think Tua is the kind of guy that’s never really satisfied,” Saban said. “And I think he had an outstanding year last year. Are there things that he can improve on? I don’t think there’s any question about that.”
After recording arguably the best season in program history by a quarterback, improvements are marginal. Yet Saban quickly pinpointed his desire for Tagovailoa’s decision making to improve.
“Tua is a great competitor, so he’s going to try to make a great play every play,” he said. “And sometimes those things have worked out extremely well. And other times they’ve led to some disasters. So having a little better judgment about when to say when can be an asset from a health standpoint as well as eliminate negative play standpoint, even though sometimes he’s done that, and it’s worked out great.”
Asked what he has left to show, Tagovailoa erred toward leadership.
“I think I still have to prove my role of being a leader on the team,” he said. “Being able to play well earns you respect, but it’s who you are and how you build relationships with these guys is what’s going to carry throughout the way.”
The 2020 season brings another year of elevated expectations in Tuscaloosa. As has become the norm under Saban’s 12-year tenure, the Crimson Tide will reload, not rebuild.
Tagovailoa returns for what should be his final year of college football. He’ll also bring back top targets Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs III — the former of whom is likely to be the first receiver off the board come next June’s NFL Draft.
Surrounded by reporters during his July media session, the scene was eerily reminiscent of sea of confetti that swirled around Tagovailoa in January.
Though the colored paper had been replaced with overbearing bodies, notebooks and cameras, it’s this perpetual cloud that will always envelop him during his time in Tuscaloosa.
That said, Tagovailoa has already been the best. In 2020, he’ll try to be better than that.
“Our mantra for our guys as a leadership group is to never be satisfied,” Tagovailoa said. “Early in the season we’d been beating teams by a lot and of course you’re going to get satisfied because we feel invincible as a team. But never being satisfied is the way to go for us. Got to keep going until we get what we want.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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