Heralded rookie Tua Tagovailoa has remained one of the Miami Dolphins’ biggest question marks of the offseason. After sustaining a horrific hip injury, which fractured his posterior wall towards the end of his final season at Alabama, the quarterback has been rehabbing with no public updates.
Last week in a Zoom press conference, head coach Brian Flores expressed his frustrations with being unable to work with his first-round draftee.
“Quite honestly, it’s hard not to have your hands on them. Specific to Tua, he’s working hard, he’s picking up the information; but you want to get your hands on them, quite honestly,” he said. “Again, specific to the injury, I haven’t seen him. Our doctors haven’t seen him. To give you any information on that or try to, I shouldn’t do that.”
But on Saturday, Tagovailoa was scheduled to make the move down to Miami-Dade County, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. As the NFL has loosened their restrictions on entrance into facilities, Tua’s time with his coaches and trainers could be on the horizon.
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The Latest on Tua’s Injury
Per the Sun-Sentinel, Kevin Wilk says that Tua has been doing “miraculously well” since his rehabilitation at the Champion Sports Medicine facility began.
“The miraculous part is that he healed so well,” Wilk said. “The second part is, he’s been so well at getting his strength back, which usually takes a long time after something like this.”
Wilk, who has significant experience working with professional athletes, said that Tua’s injury healed well after surgery. His rehabilitation has comprised of three-and-a-half hours a day of focus on three different areas: his hip, his ankles, and his left shoulder. As far as progress is concerned, Tua is allegedly further ahead than anticipated.
“We’re constantly trying to slow him down just a little bit,” Wilk said. “Because an athlete like that is just chomping at the bit just begging to get back out there. He wants to do more and more so we have to hold him back. And really, that was from the beginning. He always wanted to do more.”
The Dolphins Offseason
Tua has been as active as any player on the Miami Dolphins roster in the team’s virtual offseason program. And while Ryan Fitzpatrick is expected to begin the 2020 regular season under center, the Dolphins drafting of Tagovailoa with the fifth overall selection this year says enough about who the team sees as their leader to success as they rebuild.
Several members of the team have been outward about sharing their own independent offseason workout experiences, including new center Ted Karras, who said in a press conference earlier this week that he’s been hosting fellow teammates at his home gym, Jakeem Grant, who insists on being ready for more than returning punts this season, and Sam Eguavoen, who has been working with the Bullitt family at their training facilities in Texas.
As the upcoming week unfolds, much more is bound to be revealed about Tua Tagovailoa’s recovery, and what can be expected on the field as the 2020 Dolphins season inches closer.
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Tua Tagovailoa Touches Down in Miami: Report