Apparently, one talented quarterback named Tagovailoa is not enough for the state of Hawaii.
Yessirree, I wrote that line Sept. 1, 2015, when Taulia Tagovailoa threw for 394 yards and five touchdowns as a freshman in his debut with Kapolei, a 67-21 loss at Mililani.
Now, apparently, one talanted quarterback named Tagovailoa is not enough for the whole nation.
On Friday, Taulia passed for 394 yards (that same total from 2015) in Maryland’s 45-44 come-from-behind overtime victory over Minnesota on Friday. It was Taulia’s second start for the Terrapins after transferring from Alabama, where he spent his freshman year in 2019 completing nine of 12 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.
in the Terrapins’ season opener. (Photo from Yardbarker.com,
mandatory credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports).
Taulia’s famous brother, Tua, will make his first start for the Miami Dolphins on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams. Start time is 8 a.m. and it will be televised on KHON-TV (Fox). Tua’s biggest career moment so far was when he came off the bench in the 2017 national title game to lead Alabama to the championship. In April, he was the No. 5 overall pick in the draft.
Taulia, in his two seasons at Kapolei in 2015 and ’16, threw for 6,703 yards, and that total still ranks him No. 9 in Hawaii all time. He also thrived in his junior and senior seasons in 2017 and ’18 at Thompson High in Alabaster, Ala., finishing his career with more than 14,000 passing yards.
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Taulia Tagovailoa’s high school totals
>> Games: 49
>> Attempts: 1,785
>> Completions: 1,092
>> Completion percentage: .612
>> Yards: 14,251
>> Touchdowns: 135
>> Interceptions: 35
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In 2015, Taulia’s freshman campaign at Kapolei was solid enough to woo run-and-shoot master June Jones, the former successful University of Hawaii coach, who became Kapolei’s offensive coordinator for Taulia’s sophomore season.
At Taulia’s and Jones’ first practice together, I remember writing a story on Jones’ thoughts and shooting video. I also remember that what made Taulia special as a high schooler was his quick release and quick thinking. While watching him on TV against Minnesota on Friday, it appears as though his accuracy and arm strength are still strong.
“What we do, the offensive line has to be the key and I really think Taulia is going to be a very, very good quarterback,” Jones said at the time. “I can already tell that, and so we’ve got to be able to keep them (opposing defenses) off of him. But he’s very smart and he knows where to go with the ball. I can already see that he has the passing skills, so it’s going to be real fun to get it all together. As a 14-year old last year, he threw 73 passes in one game, a high school game as a true freshman. That’s pretty incredible. He’s got the talent, and as I told him, the team success has to have priority over personal success and as long as he keeps that focus and stays humble, I think he’s going to be a really good player.
The video of that day’s practice is below.
And here’s a look at what older brother Tua did for Saint Louis School during his three years there, from 2014 to ’16:
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Tua Tagovailoa’s high school totals
>> Games: 31
>> Attempts: 817
>> Completions: 540
>> Completion percentage: .661
>> Yards: 8,158
>> Touchdowns: 84
>> Interceptions: 17
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All of the proud Hawaii fans following Tua in his bid to make it in the NFL will get the bonus of also watching Taulia’s progression in the Big Ten at Maryland. And it’s possible Taulia could play three more seasons in college after this one. In normal times, he would be a sophomore with only two more seasons, but because of the COVID-19 flu pandemic, all NCAA fall athletes get one more year of eligibility.
Wyoming Rocks Hawaii With Defense And A Solid Running Game
The University of Hawaii football team’s defense is built around speed and not so much around girth. That proved to be part of the downfall on Friday in a 31-7 loss to Wyoming in Laramie, Wyo.
Running behind linemen checking in at the following weights — 300, 350, 305, 310 and 314 — and a 230-pound tight end, the Cowboys (1-1) rushed for 281 yards and kept the chains moving, thanks mostly to the shiftiness of Xazavian Valladay, who picked up 163 of those yards and scored two touchdowns.
Despite a horrendously slow offensive start, the Rainbow Warriors (1-1) were still in it at halftime, down just 10-7. Defense was keeping them in it. But in the second half, with the offense still sputtering, eventually the Wyoming front-line behemoths wore them out with time-consuming, punishing drives.
The biggest play of the night for UH — Chevan Cordeiro’s 47-yard pass to Zion Bowens — set up the team’s lone touchdown — Dae Dae Hunter’s 3-yard run — late in that first half.
But all told, the Rainbow Warriors had just 112 passing yards and that number usually doesn’t cut it for teams who expect to be winners in NCAA Division I FBS.
Darius Muasau had another big game on defense for Hawaii, with a career-high 14 tackles, including two for loss. A week earlier, he had 11 tackles in the season-opening 34-19 win over Fresno State.
“Give a lot of credit to Wyoming,” Rainbow Warriors coach Todd Graham said in his postgame Zoom conference Friday night. “We couldn’t get anything going offensively and Wyoming played great defensively. We played hard defensively, but they were the better team tonight. There’s not much else you can say about it.
“At times we’d get a little rhythm going running the football. But we couldn’t throw the football. We struggled. They did a great job mixing up their coverages.”
Overall, Graham did not give his team good grades.
“I was really disappointed in the penalties,” he added. “That was our focus this week. A lot of missed assignments. A lot of negative plays. A lot of sacks on our quarterback. But our guys were great at halftime, came in 10-7. The adversity we faced in the first half, to come back in that situation was great, but eventually we wren’t able to generate points. There were a lot of positives in the guys’ effort and how hard they played. We were just too sloppy.”
The game was played in front of approximately 7,000 fans, limited due to the health crisis.
Hawaii’s home opener is Saturday at Aloha Stadium at 6 p.m. against New Mexico.
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>> ALSO AT BedrockSportsHawaii.com: Tua is one of seven NFL starters with Hawaii ties
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