Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa is arguably the best quarterback in the Big Ten Conference. The younger brother of Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa, Taulia returned to Maryland for his fourth season there despite graduating. According to a report by The Athletic, he almost got lured away by an SEC team for “crazy money.”
An unnamed SEC school offered the Terps QB $1.5 million, Tagovailoa admitted to Audrey Snyder. He opted to stay after sitting down with his head coach Mike Locksley.
Tagovailoa added that his decision was also helped by his brother being in the NFL. What the report highlights are the great lengths programs will go to in today’s transfer portal and NIL era.
Players have jumped around at unprecedented lengths. Tagovailoa is a transfer himself. He spent his true-freshman year at Alabama while Locksley was co-offensive coordinator. After Locksley was named Maryland’s head coach, Tagovailoa followed him to College Park.
In response to the SEC courting Tagovailoa, Locksley admitted he had lots of “sleepless nights” worrying he could lose his QB. The transfer portal closed a day before Maryland’s spring game. Essentially Tagovailoa’s decision was up in the air for Locksley until he took the field on April 29.
Now that he’s back, Tagovailoa will continue his impressive collegiate career at Maryland.
Taulia Tagovailoa became Maryland’s all-time leader in passing yards last year, surpassing Scott Milanovich. He also is the school’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns. He’ll add to his numbers this upcoming season, leaving one SEC offer behind.
