Tua Tagovailoa

QB · Alabama 2019 · #13

Last confirmed: Alabama, 2019. No 2026 box-score games on record.

6′1″ · 218 lb · Ewa Beach, HI · St. Louis

Tua Tagovailoa: QB · Alabama · #13.

Players he’s like

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Baker MayfieldOklahoma · 2016 · 74% season match
Jake FrommGeorgia · 2018 · 61% season match
Logan WoodsideToledo · 2016 · 51% season match
Tanner MorganMinnesota · 2019 · 48% season match
Kyler MurrayOklahoma · 2018 · 26% season match

Tua Tagovailoa

QB · Alabama · Jr · #13

Picks you apart underneath and protects the ball. He has spent three seasons in the Alabama quarterback room. A game that shows it: 444 passing yards and 5 passing TD against South Carolina — Week 3, 2019.

How he plays

Play style

High-percentage passer who protects the ball. Loses the matchup on improvisation.

News and fans

No outlet on our list has written about him by name this season.

Alabama in the news

Coleman-Williams out vs TennesseeThe Tuscaloosa News Oct 15
2027 RB commit out for seasonOct 9
Former Alabama coach Dennis Franchione diesWBMA Oct 7

Where to follow him

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2019	Alabama	180	252	71.4%	2,840	11.3	33	3	206.9	89
2018	Alabama	245	355	69.0%	3,966	11.2	43	6	199.4	93
2017	Alabama	49	77	63.6%	636	8.3	11	2	175.0	--
Career		474	684	69.3%	7,442	10.9	87	11	199.4	91

Season	Team
2019	Alabama	23	17	0.7	2
2018	Alabama	57	190	3.3	5
2017	Alabama	27	133	4.9	2
Career		107	340	3.2	9

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2019 season · 9 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	W 42-3vs Duke	26/31	336	4	0	10.8	94.1	4 TD passes
Wk 2	W 62-10vs New Mexico State	16/24	227	3	0	9.5	95.8	3 TD passes
Wk 3	W 47-23@ South Carolina	28/36	444	5	0	12.3	95.3	Season-high 444 yds
Wk 4	W 49-7vs Southern Miss	17/21	293	5	0	14.0	99.3	5 TD passes
Wk 5	W 59-31vs Ole Miss	26/36	418	6	0	11.6	94.5	6 TD passes
Wk 7	W 47-28@ No. 24 Texas A&M	21/34	293	4	1	8.6	85.2	4 TD passes
Wk 8	W 35-13vs Tennessee	11/12	155	0	1	12.9	75.8
Wk 11	L 41-46vs No. 1 LSU	21/40	418	4	1	10.5	—	4 TD passes
Wk 12	W 38-7@ Mississippi State	14/18	256	2	0	14.2	—	Clean 2-TD game
Total		180/252	2840	33	3	11.3	—

Signature game

Week 5 · 2019

W 59-31

vs Ole Miss

418 yds · 6 TD · 0 INT · QBR 94.5

Dominant 28-point win at home against Ole Miss.

With D. Smith — 11 rec · 274 yds · 5 TD · B. Robinson Jr. — 60 rush yds (10 car)

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 3 · South Carolina · 2nd and 10 · Q1 · EPA +6.97Tagovailoa to Ruggs III: an 81-yard touchdown pass.
Week 5 · Ole Miss · 2nd and 10 · Q1 · EPA +6.74Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 74 yds for a TD, (Joseph Bulovas KICK)
Week 11 · LSU · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +6.62Tagovailoa to Smith: an 85-yard touchdown pass.
Week 4 · Southern Miss · 2nd and 4 · Q1 · EPA +6.10Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to Henry Ruggs III for 74 yds for a TD, (Will Reichard KICK)
Week 8 · Tennessee · 1st and 2 · Q1 · EPA −5.79Tua Tagovailoa pass intercepted Nigel Warrior return for 59 yds to the Alab 41
Week 7 · Texas A&M · 3rd and 10 · Q1 · EPA +5.72Tagovailoa to Smith: a 47-yard touchdown pass.

4 more plays

Week 3 · South Carolina · 4th and 2 · Q2 · EPA +5.29Tagovailoa to Harris: a 42-yard touchdown pass.
Week 11 · LSU · 1st and 10 · Q2 · EPA +5.15Tagovailoa to Smith: a 64-yard pass.
Week 4 · Southern Miss · 2nd and 13 · Q1 · EPA +4.87Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to Henry Ruggs III for 45 yds for a TD, (Will Reichard KICK)
Week 11 · LSU · 3rd and 8 · Q1 · EPA −4.05Tua Tagovailoa run for no gain to the LSU 8 Tua Tagovailoa fumbled, recovered by LSU Ray Thornton

Passing profile

Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

180/252 (71.4%) · 33 TD · 3 INT

236 of 252 attempts matched to play-by-play

Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 236 passing plays (163 completions) against the box score's 252 attempts (180 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.

Adjusted ANY/A

12.601 of 205 QBs

Sack rate

3.8%35 of 205 QBs

Rarely sacked (35 of 205 QBs) and still 1 of 205 in Adjusted ANY/A.

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Short

0–9 yds

42%of completions

68 comp4.3 yds avg1 TD

Middle

10–19 yds

33%of completions

54 comp13.9 yds avg4 TD

Deep

20+ yds

25%of completions

41 comp30.2 yds avg11 TD

Overall 71.4% completion on 252 attempts · 41 deep completions averaging 30.2 yds.

Situational

Is he a different quarterback when it matters

Each situation vs his own 2019 baseline

No situation moves him more than 87 percentile points from his baseline.

BaselineThis situation

Down 1

-44 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 6/112 (5.4%) · league sack rate 4.8%

Down 2

+12 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 1/67 (1.5%) · league sack rate 5.5%

Down 3+

+87 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 2/47 (4.3%) · league sack rate 9.0%

Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.

Teams and coaches

3 seasons under Nick Saban — 38-4 over that span.

2017Alabama13-1HC: Nick Saban · Run-heavy

2018Alabama14-1HC: Nick Saban · Run-leaning

2019Alabama11-2HC: Nick Saban · Balanced

Our ratings

Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: epa / dropback (97th percentile). Strength: explosive rate (97th percentile). Concern: rush yards (29th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

EPA / dropback#7 / 189 · 97th pct

0.49

Explosive rate#7 / 189 · 97th pct

17.4%

Interception rate#17 / 189 · 91st pct

1.3%

Success rate#21 / 189 · 89th pct

48.2%

Sack rate#34 / 189 · 82nd pct

4.1%

Box-score rates (8)

Yards / att#4 / 177 · 98th pct

11.3

Completion %#6 / 177 · 97th pct

71.4%

Pass TDs#8 / 177 · 95th pct

Interceptions#27 / 177 · 79th pct

Fumbles lost#23 / 166 · 74th pct

Pass yards#47 / 177 · 73rd pct

2840

Rush TDs#77 / 177 · 50th pct

Rush yards#127 / 177 · 29th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / dropback

94th → 97th percentile

Success rate

94th → 89th percentile

Explosive rate

97th → 97th percentile

Sack rate

85th → 82nd percentile

Interception rate

67th → 91st percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Zeitgeist Passer Rating

2019 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.

Medium confidence: 226 dropbacks

89Zeitgeist Passer Rating3rd of 140 FBS QBs

NCAA passer rating 206.9 1st of 140 FBS QBs

Positive-play rate weight 24%

57.0%98th pct of FBS QBs

share of dropbacks that gained expected points · +3.0% schedule adj.

Yards per attempt weight 56%

10.0299th pct of FBS QBs

sacks excluded · +0.1 schedule adj.

Sack rate weight 21% (penalty)

3.1%90th pct of FBS QBs

the input passer rating cannot see · -0.8% schedule adj.

Opponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (19 of 245 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. How ZPR is built.

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2019 season · 9 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home5g	302	3.6	11.7	0.4
Road3g	331	3.7	11.7	0.3

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-76g	335	4.5	11.1	0.2
Weeks 8+3g	276	2.0	12.5	0.7

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2019 season

Head Coach

Nick Saban

Pass share

48.7%

406 pass / 428 run

Plays / game

64.2

13 games

Scheme: Balanced.

Awards

Player standing · 2019

Heisman model top 25

Our Heisman model had this player inside its top 25 in 2019.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Tua Tagovailoa

Players he’s like

How he plays

News and fans

Alabama in the news

Where to follow him

Career stats

Game log

Signature game

Signature plays

Passing profile

Situational

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Awards

Heisman model top 25

Three seasons at Alabama, drafted

His moves

2017 8 games

2020

Featured in The Canon