Tua Tagovailoa dealing with injury again in SEC Championship

Tagovailoa’s started every game despite various medical concerns throughout the year.

Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa left the field limping after Alabama’s first drive of the SEC Championship, then went into a sideline medical tent with team staffers. He emerged a short time later and was back on the field by the Tide’s next possession.

Two plays before going to the tent, Tagovailoa appeared to get twisted around while Georgia’s D’Andre Walker sacked him. The next play, he threw an interception to Georgia’s Richard LeCounte, then limped off after attempting to track down LeCounte on his return.

That play:

And Tagovailoa’s exit:

Tagovailoa plays an aggressive brand of QB, and that’s led to him taking a lot of hits in vulnerable-looking positions.

He had previously dealt with injuries to his right knee and quad, though neither was enough to prevent him from playing in games. Alabama didn’t disclose what Tagovailoa’s Saturday injury was, but told CBS it wasn’t the knee that had bothered him previously. The network reported he had his left ankle taped when he came out of the tent.

Alabama has regularly removed Tagovailoa from games in the second half, usually when the Tide have been winning by huge margins. Before Tagovailoa came out of the tent and took a seat on the bench, both of Alabama’s backup QBs were warming up:

Tagovailoa will likely stay in the game, but his health is a storyline to monitor. We’ll update this post as more information becomes available.