Fortunately for football fans around the country, Tua Tagovailoa’s initial reaction to Nick Saban’s retirement was caught on HBO’s in-season edition of “Hard Knocks.”
Tagovailoa was scrolling on his phone when he saw the report about Saban retiring. As you’d expect, he was stunned by the news.
“Oh! Damn! Saban is retiring,” Tagovailoa said. “Dude, look at this. That’s wild.”
Tagovailoa added that it “didn’t seem real” that Saban was walking away from coaching.
There are plenty of people who had the same reaction to Saban’s retirement. We knew the day would eventually come, it just seemed odd for it to happen roughly a week after the Rose Bowl.
Nick Saban’s retirement had @Tua and the QB room shook 😅
Wild card edition of #HardKnocks: Tuesday 9pm ET on @StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/hBvMvtM497
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) January 13, 2024
Tagovailoa had an excellent run at Alabama, throwing for 7,442 yards and 87 touchdowns. The highlight of his college career was throwing a game-winning touchdown pass in the 2017 national championship.
It’s unclear if Tagovailoa reached out to Saban this week.