It’s not often that a rookie freshman without any serious play time all season leads his team to win the national championship on the most coveted platform in college football.
But that’s exactly what happened for Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa on Monday night in their nail-biter against Georgia.
Coach Nick Saban told Tagovailoa that he’d be going in after they were trailing 13-0 at halftime, and the poised freshman humbly stepped up to the challenge, leading Alabama to a 26-23 OT victory over their rivals.
But the most awe-inspiring part of the night was when Tagovailoa redirected the praises lavished on him to his Lord and Savior.
“What went through your mind when you realized you were going to play in a national championship game?” he was asked in a post-game interview.
“My parents would be mad, so excuse me, but first and foremost I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” replied Tagovailoa. “With Him, all things are possible and that’s what happened tonight.”
The freshman quarterback was launched into insta-fame after his all-star performance, but after crediting God, he went on to applaud his team for making him ‘look good’:
“It was a team effort tonight. It couldn’t have been done without the defense getting us the ball back. Oline working their butts off, receivers getting open, it was just a great team effort. They were the guys that made me look good tonight.”
Quite an impressive response for a mere teenager.