Not only are Alabama and LSU squaring off in Baton Rouge, the two SEC teams are fighting for top recruit Taulia Tagovailoa. The name may sound familiar, because he is the brother of Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Taulia has already committed to Alabama to potentially join his brother in Tuscaloosa in 2019. That has not stopped LSU from thinking they can flip Taulia to become the rival quarterback to his brother. Taulia will be in attendance for the big rivalry matchup as 247 Sports’ Shea Dixon detailed.
[Taulia] Tagovailoa will be in Tiger Stadium this weekend for the matchup with the Tide, but the bigger question will be whether he and his family will return to campus for an official visit at some point in the coming months. If so, perhaps LSU does have a better shot than most have anticipated. If not, the writing would be on the wall that he plans to follow in his brother’s footsteps and sign with the Tide.
According to 247 Sports, LSU head coach Ed Orgeron went to watch Taulia during the Tigers bye week. The LSU coach even ran into Tua on the sideline as the above video shows. LSU only has two scholarship quarterbacks on their roster and could be trying to sell Taulia on immediate playing time.
Given Taulia has already committed to Alabama, it is going to be hard for LSU to flip him. Taulia moved from Hawaii to Tuscaloosa with his family who all moved to be closer to Tua. Despite his recent visit to Tennessee, Taulia has publicly reaffirmed his commitment to Alabama in 2019.
“Yeah, I’m 100 percent committed to Alabama,” Taulia told AL.com. “I feel good about my commitment to Alabama…Going to Tennessee, it was great. We’re real close to Coach (Jeremy) Pruitt and Coach Tyson. Going there, it I was a lot of fun.”
As for the trip to Tennessee? Taulia noted it was his father’s idea, so he went along with the trip. Pruitt was a former assistant coach at Alabama under Nick Saban.
“I didn’t really let it [fan reaction] get me,” Taulia explained to AL.com. “It’s something my dad wanted to do. If my dad wants to do it, I’m going to support him.”
According to Rivals, Taulia is a four-star recruit who is the No. 6 ranked dual-threat quarterback in the country. Alabama seems like the perfect fit for Taulia. He would get to play behind his brother for a year, with the potential to take over the job if Tua opts to go to the NFL in 2020.
Taulia also is familiar with the Tuscaloosa area since he lives there with his family. Overall, it is a tall task for LSU to try to flip the younger Tagovailoa from his Alabama commitment. That doesn’t mean the Tigers won’t try.
Check out some of the best highlights of Taulia via the video below.
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