Up-close look at QB prospect

Tua Tagovailoa still has some time to decide whether he will enter the 2020 NFL draft.

Maybe, a little nudge from the Miami Dolphins could help.

Dolphins owner Steve Ross, vice chairman, president and CEO Tom Garfinkel and general manager Chris Grier had pregame conversations and watched players warm up before the start of the Alabama-Michigan Citrus Bowl game in Orlando on Wednesday.

Among those on the Camping World Stadium field — a few short yards away from the Dolphins contingent — was Tagovailoa, Alabama’s injured star quarterback, who stood with the help of a crutch on his left side to support his hip after a recent surgery.

Tagovailoa, who walked alongside three other team captains for the coin toss before the game, has until Jan. 20 to decide whether he wants to return to Alabama for his senior year or enter the NFL draft, which begins April 23.

It’s been roughly a month since Tagovailoa said that being compensated as a high draft pick near the top of the first round — where the Dolphins own the No. 5 pick — would factor into his decision.

If the Dolphins drafted Tagovailoa, he could earn about $34.4 million as the fifth pick, according to 2020 rookie salary projections from overthecap.com.

Despite his injury, most NFL draft analysts still have the Dolphins selecting Tagovailoa with their top pick.

“When I kinda look at it, if I come back, the risk is what if I get hurt again? But the reward could be maybe I jump back to the top of the charts, or the boards for all these teams,” Tagovailoa told ESPN on Dec. 4.

“Now, you look at the other side of the spectrum if I leave. All the risk is do I still go in the first round or do I even make it to the second round? And these guys don’t even know if I can play with the hip injury yet, too. And then, I’d say the reward in all that is yeah, I’ll be getting paid millions but a lot of the money I could have made you can’t make that money up now. That’d be me leaving money on the table.”

It’s not a coincidence the Dolphins attended the Alabama-Michigan game.

Ross, Dolphins’ owner since 2009, is also the largest donor to the University of Michigan, giving $378 million to his alma mater over the years. Garfinkel is also a Michigan alum.