For Taulia Tagovailoa, relationships at Maryland outweighed a portal payday

INDIANAPOLIS — Taulia Tagovailoa leaned forward and, after a little coaxing, finally said the two words that resulted in many sleepless nights for his head coach, Mike Locksley, this offseason.

“Crazy money,” Tagovailoa said Thursday at Big Ten media day when recalling what it’s like to be a sought-after quarterback in the transfer portal era.

When asked to define what crazy money looks like in college football these days, Maryland’s quarterback said he was offered $1.5 million on behalf of an unnamed SEC team should he transfer this offseason.

“It can be eye-opening, but I think for my situation — if I was in a different situation where maybe I didn’t have a brother in the NFL or maybe my parents, it’d be a different situation,” Tagovailoa said.

Locksley stirred all spring as his quarterback — the one who transferred from Alabama in 2020 and who holds at least 11 program records — was courted about potentially playing his redshirt senior season elsewhere. Player and coach met to discuss what was unfolding. Tagovailoa said teammates knew, too. Maryland’s spring game was on April 29, one day before the spring transfer portal window closed.

“I knocked on wood before the spring game and many of ya’ll didn’t understand what I was saying,” Locksley said. “You hear the rumors, you know some of the things are going on out there behind the scenes. No, I was not comfortable until I saw him run out after that portal window closed up. But even then, a guy that’s a graduate can still leave and go play somewhere. I haven’t had a lot of nights of great sleep.”

Tagovailoa consulted with his brother Tua, the Miami Dolphins starting quarterback, who asked him what he really wanted to do. Taulia said his legacy and the relationships he has with teammates and coaches outweighed the immediate financial gains.

“It would be hard for me to go to another place and not be happy but have all the money in the world,” he said. “(I’d rather) be at a place where maybe I don’t have as much, but I’m happy and I’m here to work.”

While Tagovailoa spoke of his contentment at Maryland and showed off his new grey suit with his name stitched on the inside — a satisfying NIL perk to him —  across the room at Lucas Oil Stadium was new Purdue quarterback Hudson Card.

Transfer quarterbacks are aplenty in the Big Ten this season with Card, Wisconsin’s Tanner Mordecai and Nebraska’s Jeff Sims among the contingent at media days who all were playing elsewhere last season.

Card, an Austin, Texas, native who appeared in 22 games (with five starts) during his three years suiting up for his hometown team, said fielding calls from coaches while trying to narrow down transfer destinations is all part of a sometimes overwhelming process.

“It’s the uncertainty,” Card said. “You’re having to kind of restart in a way and meet new people, gain that respect from your teammates, especially when you’re coming in to lead the program. Just a lot of hard work, but work that’s totally worth it in the end.”

Winning over a locker room in a matter of months is no easy feat. Wisconsin teammates recalled looking up Mordecai’s stats at SMU as soon as they found out the former Mustang picked Wisconsin. The 23-year-old knew there was already a culture in place with the Badgers, even though there was a new coaching staff taking over.

“The hardest part is just the new faces,” Mordecai said. “I felt like my job was just to get to know people, build relationships. … I was just trying to get to know people so I can earn their trust and respect and then work my butt off and know that whenever they watch me work, they know what I’m about.”

Sims joined a Nebraska program with 100-plus players on the team. Fortunately, each locker not has only the player’s name but also a picture, and he also studied the Huskers’ roster on his phone.

“At one point I just knew everybody by their last name,” said Sims, who spent three seasons at Georgia Tech. “I was just calling people by their last name. … If I didn’t know a guy’s name I was just like, ‘What’s up, bro?’ I’d remember his face and then I’d go to his locker and be like that’s his name.

“I see myself as a leader and I knew before I could say anything or lead these guys I had to know them. I can’t go up to a guy and try and tell him to do something if I don’t even know his name.”

Sims said many in the student body didn’t seem to know his name this spring as he made his way around a new campus. That will likely change this fall as he takes over as the starting quarterback.

Tagovailoa once had that luxury too when he was the new quarterback in town. Now, plenty of fans come up to him when he’s eating on campus or walking around College Park. And he makes sure he gets to know everyone on the team.

“I know how they feel, especially the freshmen or newcomers coming in,” Tagovailoa said. “I try to make them feel like you’re at home.”

Those relationships are worth more than the $1.5 million he could be receiving on another campus.

(Photo of Taulia Tagovailoa: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)