Taulia Tagovailoa: The Maryland Football QB Returns
Taulia Tagovailoa was injured in the middle of what so far has been a solid season for the Terps. What will Taulia’s return mean for Maryland’s squad?
Taulia Tagovailoa: The Maryland Football QB Returns
It’s been a scary year on the field for the Tagovailoa brothers. Both have had injuries that caught the nation’s attention. Tua, of course, with his brutal concussion, and Taulia Tagovailoa was carted off near the end of Maryland’s game against Indiana back in the second week of October.
Taulia missed Maryland’s next game against Northwestern. However, he is set to make his return to the roster this Saturday against Wisconsin after the team had a game-free week. This is great news for Maryland fans, who surely thought the injury would take a larger toll on the young QB.
Terps’ Season so Far
Maryland is having a good season this far into the year. After eight games, the Terps sit at 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the conference, which puts Maryland currently in 3rd place in the Big Ten East. 3rd Place isn’t bad either, considering the seasons that Michigan and Ohio State are having.
Speaking of their two losses are to Michigan and Purdue, another team in the Big Ten having a stellar season so far. Neither are embarrassing defeats, especially when considering that both were one-possession games.
The Terps have a high-powered offense behind Tagovailoa. The team is currently ranked 23rd in points per game and 24 in yards per game. Averaging 6.4 yards a play, scoring is coming easy for the team. Six different Terrapins have caught 19+ receptions for 200+ yards.
One of them is running back Roman Hemby, who is putting together a great season with 920 yards from scrimmage, 681 of them coming from the ground.
The defense is holding opponents to 24 points a game ranking them 46th in the nation in that category; however, the big weakness of the team is the fact that the defense can’t get off the field. They have respectable stats across the board on dense, except for opponents’ 3rd down conversion rate, in which they rank 105th in the nation at a rate of a whopping 43.8%.
Taulia Tagovailoa
Taulia Tagovailoa is a junior out of Ewa Beach, Hawaii. Taulia spent a year at his brother’s alma mater Alabama before transferring to Maryland for the 2020 season and has been there ever since. Taulia has been effective as the Terps’ QB showing improvement each season, giving reasons to believe that he will continue just to get better.
In 2021 Taulia completed 328 of 474 for 3,860 yards and 26 TDs to 11 INTs. A massive improvement from the 7 TDs and 7 INTs from the year before, though that season was wonky in all sorts of ways due to Covid-19.
Taulia this year looks to be on his way to having an even better season this year, currently having completed 171 of 236 passes for 2,001 yards and 13 TDs to 5 INTs. Terps fans should rejoice in the fact that Taulia is able to return so soon as he gives Maryland the best chance they have to win, and I expect the betting lines movement to reflect that as well.
