Alabama QB Tagovailoa named Walter Camp Player of the Year
The events of Saturday’s SEC football championship followed an eerily similar script to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
In January, Tua Tagovailoa replaced Jalen Hurts to lead a big second-half Alabama comeback over Georgia for the national title. On Saturday, Hurts returned the favor as the Crimson Tide again came from behind to beat Georgia for the SEC title, locking up the top seed in this year’s playoff.
“That’s a movie, right there,” Tagovailoa said Thursday by phone, a few hours before being named the Walter Camp Player of the Year at college football’s awards show in Atlanta.
“You couldn’t tell me I was going into second half of national championship game and we were going to win the game, only for me to leave this year and Jalen would bring us back in the fourth quarter. I mean, really. That’s a movie.”
The next plot twist is anyone’s guess.
Alabama is hopeful Tagovailoa can recover from ankle surgery earlier this week in time for a semifinal game with Oklahoma on Dec. 29. If not, there’s a capable contingency plan in Hurts.
Tagovailoa’s surgery to repair a high ankle sprain is considered minor, though three weeks is a quick turnaround. He tooled around Atlanta on a knee scooter and received treatment from team trainers in his hotel room in the hours before the ESPN broadcast.
“In my mind, I’ll be ready to play,” Tagovailoa said. “I’m working on getting better every day with therapy in treatment. We have to use up every second and every minute we can to get this thing better.”
Some have wondered whether the injury cost Tagovailoa his shot at becoming the first Alabama quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy. Tagovailoa will be in New York on Saturday for the presentation along with fellow finalists Kyler Murray of Oklahoma and Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State.
It could become one of the closest votes in history. Tagovailoa and Murray are considered co-favorites, both more than worthy.
The New Haven-based Walter Camp Award, also for the national player of the year, has mirrored the Heisman winner each of the past five years. Tagovailoa was considered the favorite leading into Saturday. But voters, whose ballots were due Monday evening, may have been swayed after Tagovailoa played through an earlier injury Saturday before leaving for good in the fourth quarter.
Earlier Thursday, Murray was named the Associated Press player of the year. Tagovailoa was appreciative of the Walter Camp Award.
“It means a lot,” Tagovailoa said. “Just to be nominated for any award is awesome. To win one, to have something like this under my belt now, I’m grateful. It’s a testament to the people surrounding me, starting with my teammates and coaches.”
As a young child growing up in Oahu, Tagovailoa slept with a football tucked under his arm. At 8, he’d prepare for Pop Warner games by crashing Sunday passing camps to throw with the high school varsity quarterbacks, including Marcus Mariota, five years his elder and the 2015 Heisman winner.
In time Tagovailoa became a star at Honolulu’s St. Louis School. The heaviest pressure to perform came from home. Tagovailoa, in an interview with ESPN’s College Game Day that aired prior to Saturday’s SEC championship game, admitted his father might use his belt if he performed poorly in a game.
Galu Tagovailoa, a former Juco defensive lineman, also forced Tua, a natural righthander, to learn to throw with his left. By the time he was a senior, Tagovailoa was the top-ranked dualthreat quarterback in the country. When it came time to pick a college, Tua said his father made the final choice: Alabama.
Family pride is important for Tagovailoa. He nearly quit football early in his high school career when his grandfather, a main source of football inspiration, suddenly passed away. And when Tua left for college, his family packed up and moved from Hawaii to Alabama with him.
At Alabama, Tagovailoa made the most of sporadic duty as a freshman last fall until answering the call from coach Nick Saban on the game’s biggest stage. With the Crimson Tide offense suffering in the national championship game, Saban benched starter Jalen Hurts at halftime in favor of Tagovailoa.
Down 13-0 to Georgia, Tagovailoa helped force overtime, where, on 2ndand-26, he threw the gamewinning 41-yard touchdown pass to capture another national title for Alabama.
He beat out Hurts for the starting job to start the season, and has been magnificent. He’s completed 67 percent of passes for 3,353 yards, 37 touchdowns and four interceptions for the No. 1 Crimson Tide. He’s also run for 892 yards and 11 touchdowns.
It could turn out to be quite the calendar year for Tagovailoa. He won a national championship as a true freshman and has the Crimson Tide poised to win another to go with his Walter Camp Award and, possibly, the Heisman.
“Things have been moving quickly, but I never really took the time to soak it in and enjoy,” Tagovailoa said. “I don’t think it’s something I can enjoy until once the season’s over.”
BOSTON — Nathan Eovaldi’s marathon relief performance in Game 3 of the World Series is a moment that will resonate in Red Sox history.
Boston rewarded him with a $68 million, four-year contract.
“We’re very happy to have Nathan back with us,” Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said in a statement as the deal was announced Thursday. “He did a tremendous job for us last season, playing a significant role in helping us win the division and the World Series. His performance in the postseason was outstanding, both as a starting pitcher and as a reliever.”
A 28-year-old right-hander who has had a pair of Tommy John surgeries, Eovaldi was acquired by Boston from Tampa Bay on July 25. He went 3-3 with a 3.33 ERA down the stretch. He made four starts against the Yankees, going 2-0 with a 0.39 ERA, and beat the New York in Game 3 of the AL Division Series, when he gave up one run in seven innings.
In six postseason appearances, including two starts, Eovaldi went 2-1 with a 1.61 ERA, a .185 opponent’s batting average, 16 strikeouts, and three walks
Eovaldi pitched one inning of relief in each of the first two games of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He entered Game 3 in the 12th inning and threw 97 pitches over six-plus innings, preventing the bullpen from enduring additional stress.
Boston lost the game when Eovaldi surrendered an 18th-inning home run to Max Muncy, but his performance inspired his teammates. Manager Alex Cora credited Eovaldi’s effort with being one of the catalysts that helped Boston win its fourth World Series title in 15 years.
At the premiere of the Red Sox’s 2018 season highlight video, Eovaldi got the biggest cheers when his name was mentioned, with the crowd chanting “Bring him back!”
“Nobody’s going to remember who won that game. Everybody’s going to remember Nate Eovaldi,” Cora said.
Eovaldi is part of a projected starting rotation that includes Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello and Eduardo Rodriguez.
Eovaldi had Tommy John surgery in 2007 when he was a junior in high school and his second in August 2016 while with the Yankees. He was let go by New York after the season and signed with Tampa Bay, a deal that guaranteed $2 million in 2017 and included a $2 million option for 2018. He had arthroscopic surgery late in spring training to remove loose bodies in his pitching elbow and did not make his season debut until May 30 — his first major league game since Aug. 10, 2016.
Boston earlier reached a $6.25 million, one-year contract with first baseman Steve Pearce, the World Series MVP. Remaining unsigned players who became free agents after winning the Series include closer Craig Kimbrel, lefthander Drew Pomeranz, right-hander Joe Kelly and second basemen Brandon Phillips and Ian Kinsler.