We may have seen the last of Tua Tagovailoa in an Alabama uniform. The junior quarterback and NFL draft hopeful suffered a hip injury in the second quarter of Saturday’s game against Mississippi State. There were fears that the injury was serious from the beginning and according to The Athletic’s Aaron Suttles, those fears may have come true.
Breaking News: Tua Tagovailoa is out for the season with a dislocated hip with a posterior wall fracture, a person with knowledge of the situation tells me.
— Aaron Suttles (@AaronSuttles) November 16, 2019
Tagovailoa reportedly suffered the injury when he was tackled while attempting to scramble out of the pocket. He attempted to get up, but was unable to put pressure on his right leg and was “screaming in pain” while being carted off the field, per ESPN’s Molly McGrath.
"He was screaming in pain as medical training staff had to pick him up and carry him off the cart." @MollyAMcGrath said the first report is that Tua Tagovailoa suffered an injury to his right hip vs. Mississippi State. pic.twitter.com/ppMJykMq9N
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 16, 2019
While many are concerned that this could be a Bo Jackson-type career ending injury for Tagovailoa, it is important to keep in mind that when Jackson dislocated his hip in 1990, he popped it back into place by himself and damaged blood vessels in the area. The doctors did not perform surgery on him until he developed avascular necrosis in his hip, which is what ultimately caused the end of his career.
Tagovailoa was taken to the hospital via helicopter and will undergo surgery either Saturday night or on Sunday, according to ESPN’s Jim Nagy.
He was listed as a game-time decision leading up to this week’s contest, but ended up getting the start. The junior had previously been dealing with a high-ankle sprain which he underwent surgery for, causing him to miss a start on Oct. 26 against Arkansas. He returned last week for the LSU game in which he threw for 418 yards and four touchdowns.
The Crimson Tide will now turn to sophomore Mac Jones to finish out the season, he threw for 235 yards and three touchdowns against Arkansas.
