After stellar seasons, quarterbacks’ stock soars
NEW YORK — Tua Tagovailoa rolled across the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on a black scooter with a little Alabama sticker on the front, his sprained left ankle in a gray plastic boot, safely propped up as he pushed off with his right foot.
The Crimson Tide quarterback and fellow Heisman Trophy finalists Kyler Murray of Oklahoma and Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State were on Wall Street on Friday to ring the closing bell on a day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 558 points.
Stock for the three firstyear starters has been soaring this season. A year ago they were second on their team’s depth chart. On Saturday, one of them will win the Heisman Trophy.
Tagovailoa picked up where he left off in the second half of last season’s national championship game victory against Georgia to lead the top-ranked Crimson Tide back to the playoff as a sophomore.
Haskins, a third-year sophomore, stepped in after the departure of a fouryear starter and smashed Ohio State and Big Ten passing records.
Murray, a fourth-year junior, replaced last season’s Heisman winner and had an even better season than his predecessor. Murray waited the longest to finally take over a team, transferring from Texas A&M after a rocky freshman season, taking a redshirt year to satisfy NCAA transfer rules and then backing up Baker Mayfield in 2017.
“I think sitting down and watching is kind of important,” Murray said. “I know Dwayne got to sit and watch. Tua obviously got to sit and watch. I think it just helps you with your growth and maturing on and off the field. I think that’s a big part.”
For the 16th time in the last 19 years, a quarterback will win college football’s most coveted individual award and that should not be a surprise this season.
During a 30-minute interview session with reporters at the Stock Exchange, Tagovailoa was asked a lot about his health. He sprained his ankle in the Southeastern Conference championship game last week and said he expects to be fine for the playoff, when No. 1 Alabama faces No. 4 Oklahoma and Murray in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 29.
“Life throws problems at you sometime and it’s how you deal with it,” Tagovailoa said.
Murray fielded numerous questions about his future in baseball. He was a first-round draft pick by the Oakland Athletics in June and has already signed $4.66 million contract. This will be his one and only season as a college starting quarterback.
“My future’s already kind of been decided as of right now,” Murray said.
The question Haskins will face is whether to return to college or enter the NFL draft.
“After the bowl game I’ll sit down with my family and talk about it,” he said. The No. 6 Buckeyes face No. 9 Washington in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 in what will be coach Urban Meyer’s last game before retirement.