Taulia Tagovailoa must be fairly confident he’ll be able to get a waiver from the NCAA.
The Maryland quarterback entered the transfer portal as a graduate transfer on Friday according to multiple reports. The move comes as Tagovailoa doesn't currently have any college eligibility left.
A member of the 2019 recruiting class, Tagovailoa has already played five seasons of college football and used his extra eligibility the NCAA granted players because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He spent the first season of his career at Alabama with older brother and current Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa before transferring to Maryland ahead of the 2020 season.
Tagovailoa immediately became Maryland’s starting quarterback after he arrived on campus and played in four of the team’s five games in 2020. He then played in 37 games over the next three seasons for the Terrapins and started all 12 regular season games for the team in 2023 before opting out of the bowl game.
This season, Tagovailoa was 290-of-437 passing for 3,377 and 25 TDs with 11 interceptions. He finished his career with the Terrapins 955-of-1,424 passing for 11,256 yards and 76 TDs to 37 interceptions. He’s the school’s all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns.
So how could Tagovailoa play a sixth season of college football? His year at Alabama is his waiver case. Tagovailoa appeared in five games as a freshman in 2019. He attempted 12 passes that season and only attempted passes in three games.
Had Tagovailoa appeared in four games, he could have redshirted that season and still had a year of eligibility remaining without a waiver. It reasons that his appeal to the NCAA for a sixth season will focus on that that season at Alabama where he hardly played and may also mention that he played in just four of five games in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
If Tagovailoa gets an extra year of eligibility, he’ll have no shortage of suitors from Power Five programs looking for an experienced starter. It’s easy to see how Miami could be interested in his services now that QB Tyler Van Dyke has transferred and because Tua is with the Dolphins.
