Tua Tagovailoa – April 19, 2023
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Wednesday, April 19, 2023
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(What’s your current belt ranking i jiu-jitsu?) – “Still a white belt. I’m still a white belt. I just started. Just started.”
(What have you learned, though?) – “Obviously learned how to fall. I learned some grappling techniques. I learned some other things too that I don’t think I should disclose. But for the most part, I learned how to fall. You think it’s easy, just don’t fall and hit your head. But I mean, there’s a lot more to it.”
(For us that don’t know about judo, how do they teach you?) – “We used like crash pads to land on first with trying to fall. Obviously tucking your chin, that was one of the deals. But it went a lot more into the technique of how to disperse your energy when you fall, kind of like the posture you want to be in and if you’re not presented that posture, what are other things that you can do to help you disperse the energy when you fall. So it’s a lot of those things. And it’s actually a lot cooler than you think when you hear of learning how to fall.”
(If I can follow up, if you have a split-second to think, how does that work? Because if you’re being sacked, how does that work?) – “Well, I’ve been falling a lot this offseason, so I think just like anything else, you continue to train it, you continue to work at that, it becomes second nature. Then when a situation like that does happen, it’s not something new that’s presented to you. And for guys at my position, we barely get hit, if that, throughout practices, throughout the offseason, even going into training camp. We don’t even get touched until the season starts. So I mean, with jiu-jitsu, I’ve been thrown airborne, I’ve been put in many uncomfortable positions for me to learn how to fall and try to react throughout those positions that I’m getting thrown around in.”
(How would you describe the last four months? I know that it’s probably been a while since you’ve been in this position, but the past four months, Christmas Day, the day after being in the protocol, missing the playoff game, and just kind of all the emotions, just how has it been for you?) – “Well, it’s been hard throughout the ending of the year last year, not being able to finish the season off the way we wanted to finish the season off last year. But this is a new year for us. This is a new team that we have and we’re all really excited. And it’s cool to have a lot of the big names in the locker room now. Those guys are some great people.”
(Just quick follow up. I know there was a lot of talk about you, about what you should do and whatnot. I mean, truthfully through it all, was there any thought about walking away or whatnot, through the time you were in the protocol? And if not, what kind of led you to have that confidence to not really consider that?) – “Yeah, that’s a good question. Yeah, I think I considered it for a time, having sat down with my family, having sat down with my wife and having those kinds of conversations. But really, it would be hard for me to walk away from this game with how old I am, with my son. I always dreamed of playing as long as I could to where my son knew exactly what he was watching his dad do. And yeah, I mean it’s my health, it’s my body, and I feel like this is what’s best for me and my family. I mean, I love the game of football. If I didn’t, I would have quit a long time (ago).”
(Aside from falling, what other areas of your game this offseason have you been focusing on?) – “There’s been a lot of areas. Obviously, strength work has been really big throughout this offseason for me with getting my legs under me, kind of building my upper body, building around my neck, my core. All of that has been taken into consideration. And I’ve been doing a lot more to try to help myself sustain the season.”
(What type of actual exercises help build up strength around the neck area?) – “We have like this neck device that we use where you clip it onto like one of the pulleys. So I’m able to do a four-way directional head deal. And then also you have manuals where someone is resisting or trying to hold your head down. And then, within the four ways, going side to side, and then back and forth, you have manuals. That’s really what we’ve been doing to help build that up.”
(Part of the process of learning how to fall, you had to see what happened to you. Like you had to watch it. How tough was it to watch? That has creep into your head.) – “Yeah, it wasn’t tough to watch. It wasn’t tough to watch. I want to get better at everything that I can do to help the team win games and I know the biggest one is my health, staying out on the field. And so looking at the film, I was able to watch that with my jiu-jitsu coach, and we were able to kind of relive the scenario in how I got tackled, how I fell. And it wasn’t just one particular game. It was multiple ways that I got taken down and how I could have prevented that.”
(When I talked to some neurologists after the season, they said there’s no medical evidence that concussions or multiple concussions increase the chances of concussions eight months, nine months, 10 months later. Maybe the immediate aftermath, but not that long. Did they tell you that? Or what was the thing that neurologists told you that made you feel best about continuing to play?) – “They told me exactly what you said. They also told me that CTE wasn’t going to be a problem. It’s only when you’re constantly hitting your head against something. I think that tailors more towards linebackers, o-linemen, d-linemen, guys that are constantly going at it. That also played into the factor of my decision-making and wanting to come back and play.”
(This is the first time since high school you really have the same play-caller back-to-back years. How do you think that’s going to benefit you at the quarterback position?) – “Yeah. It’s been a lot better of an offseason knowing that I don’t have to learn a new system, I don’t have to learn new formations, new motions, new snap points, new cadences. It’s good to know that I already have a year under my belt within the offense. There’s always going to be nuances, but it’s not like a drastic change. So this is really good. I mean, this is good because of the guys that we have as well that have been with us last year under the same system. We’re all really, really excited to get things going.”
(Were you close to playing in the playoffs? Or was that not a possibility?) – “I am not sure. I was going through my process with (Head Athletic Trainer) Kyle (Johnston) and just trying to do everything I could to get better. But at any point, whenever – if the team, Mike (McDaniel) or (Chris) Grier would have approached me and asked me if I were ready, there’s no question, no doubt in my mind, that I would have stepped up to the plate and answered the call.”
