Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa said he was offered 'crazy money' to transfer to an SEC football program. Naturally, we have to wonder who offered him.
At Big Ten Media Days this past week, Maryland Terrapins quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa briefly detailed his part in the offseason NIL free-for-all in the transfer portal. Most notably, the quarterback said that he was offered "crazy money" by an SEC football program to transfer in, per Audrey Snyder of The Athletic (subscription required).
Specifically, Tagovailoa said he was offered $1.5 million from a program that he declined to name at the podium.
But that's not going to stop us from naming the possibilities. Looking at the aggressive offer in terms of money and pairing that with needs at quarterback, we are willing to bet — though this is purely speculative and not at all being reported — that it was one of these three SEC football programs who made the push for Taulia Tagovailoa to transfer ahead of the 2023 season.
3. Auburn football definitely has good reason to have offered Taulia Tagovailoa
It's not a secret at this point that Hugh Freeze identified quarterback as an area in which the Auburn Tigers could undeniably improve moving into his first season on the sidelines for the program. Robbie Ashford, who remains an option, was wildly inconsistent as a thrower and, to help rebuild the Tigers, they needed more stability and consistency.
Ultimately, Auburn brought in former Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne, another Big Ten veteran who isn't Tagovailoa.
Thorne has been solid if not unspectacular with the Spartans throughout his two years as a full-time starter, however. Thorne did throw for 3,232 yards and 27 touchdowns in the 2021 season but took a step back when Kenneth Walker III left the offense, throwing for 2,679 yards and just 19 touchdowns.
When you then look at the productivity and the upgrade in efficiency in the passing game that Tagovialoa could've provided, it's not hard to connect these hypothetical dots to Auburn.
We know that the Tigers have been investing big time in NIL once Freeze arrived to revive the program from the disaster that Brian Harsin left, so it only stands to reason that they would've tried to take a big swing to upgrade the quarterback spot in the transfer portal.
2. Taulia Tagovailoa being offered to transfer to Florida would make sense
Much in the same vein as Auburn, the Florida Gators were left with their hands thrown in the air once Anthony Richardson made the correct decision to leave for the NFL. But with Richardson on the Indianapolis Colts, there were few obvious answers left at quarterback for Billy Napier going into the 2023 season.
Again like Auburn, the Gators also ended up landing a former Big Ten passer to helm the offense for the upcoming year, getting former Wisconsin signal-caller Graham Mertz to come to Gainesville by way of the portal.
While Mertz was a highly touted recruit before he landed in Madison, the results on the field have been lackluster at best for him. He posted a career-best 2,136 yards, 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last year. But in his second full season as the starter and with 22 appearances under his belt prior to that, you would've expected more.
Much of the reporting around Florida coming into the 2023 season has said that Mertz has been a bit up-and-down throughout the spring and up to now. Napier surely recognizes this as well.
Subsequently, it's not a stretch to think that, either before they looked to grab Mertz out of the portal or, even worse, after they saw him in the spring with the Florida offense, Napier and the Gators could've dialed up Tagovailoa and hoped that they could offer enough NIL money to get him to save this offense.
If that were the case, though, obviously, it didn't work. And it also would raise quite a few alarms
1. Nick Saban could have tried to bring Taulia Tagovailoa back to Alabama
Maybe, just maybe, Nick Saban wanted to bring Taulia Tagovailoa back to Tuscaloosa.
The quarterback concerns for the Alabama Crimson Tide after the departure of Bryce Young for the NFL Draft have been well documented. Throughout the spring, every word from the program appeared to be that the battle between Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson was uninspiring at best.
Ultimately, after the Tide brought in Tommy Rees from Notre Dame to be the new offensive coordinator, Alabama went into the portal and brought his former quarterback, Tyler Buchner, into the fold. That, however, happened late in the spring, meaning that we didn't get to see much of the newcomer. But what we did see in South Bend doesn't ignite a fire of confidence that he's an upgrade over Milroe or Simpson.
But Saban and Tagovailoa already have a connection, one that extends beyond the quarterback's older brother. Tagovailoa began his college career with the Crimson Tide before ultimately transferring to Maryland now where he saw more opportunities — the Bryce Young effect again!
There have been rumors throughout college football this offseason, though, that Alabama was reaching out to virtually every big-name quarterback in the country, including Drake Maye and Tyler Van Dyke, most notably. So if Tagovailoa — especially with the previous connection to the program — wasn't also part of that conversation, it would actually be surprising.
While Auburn and Florida have perhaps more pressing needs at quarterback, situationally, it seems like Alabama actually might be the most likely candidate to have offered Taulia Tagovailoa the bag to try and get him into the transfer portal and back to Tuscaloosa.
