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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: ALABAMA VS GEORGIA

November 26, 2018

Tua Tagovailoa

Atlanta, Georgia

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Tua Tagovailoa.

TUA TAGOVAILOA: This is the new year. This is a new team. There's new challenges that we're faced with. We do understand that this is a really, really good defensive team. They're really good offensively as well. They run a lot of things similar to what our defense runs. So with that being said, we're looking forward to the challenges that we're about to be faced with this Saturday.

Q. A year ago, before there was any controversy, a quarterback controversy, your coach said that if you got the job, you're going to have to win the locker room. Is that accurate? How did you go about doing that?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, I don't know if it was as accurate, but what I can tell you is I just was myself the entire time throughout that entire process. So ain't nothing -- there's nothing much that has changed.

Q. Last night I asked Coach Saban about your slow starts the last couple of games, and he said he wasn't too happy with it. But of course you played great the second half. Can you maybe put your finger on maybe just a little slow start against the last two teams you've faced?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, yeah, I think first off, if you look at the beginning of the season, we started fast, but we didn't finish as well. And I think it's because we've been up so much.

You look at the second half of the season, I mean, we're starting slow now. But we're finishing strong. It's one of those things where you've got to pick and choose. And I think for us, offensively, we need to execute better and in order to do that it starts with practice, with how we go back our business in practice.

So this is another opportunity with this game for us to go out there and try to do it. Try to start fast and finish strong.

Q. What is your opinion of the Georgia secondary, what you've seen of them so far?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, they're a really good secondary. I mean, I know one of their guys, No. 18, he played last year as well. But aside from just their secondary, they have a really good front seven. I mean, they have really good coaches to back all of that up.

So, this is going to be a 60-minute fight. This is going to be a really good game.

Q. How do you think you've grown as a quarterback as the season has progressed?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I think a lot of what I've been doing is a testament to our coaches. And Coach Enos has been doing a really good job with us in the quarterback room. And Coach Locksley has been really attentive to how he calls his plays with what I'm good at doing.

And I think a lot of the things that I think I've been doing well, first off, is taking what the defense gives us now. And I think it's also distributing the ball to just more than one person as well.

Q. Looked like over the weekend you weren't wearing the knee brace. Were you more comfortable without it? Did you feel you were moving better?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, I feel like it was kind of a hindrance. But the doctors wanted me to use it just to protect my PCL. But I told them if it would be possible that we could take it off just because my mobility with it on isn't the same. We got to taken it off and it does feel a lot better.

Q. Do you plan on wearing it this weekend?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Not at all. No, sir.

Q. Jake Fromm talked today about your friendship. How did, actually, his decommitment and flip to Georgia affect you; would history have changed if he had stuck with Alabama?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I'm not too sure. Honestly, I'm not too sure. I didn't know that Jake was committed here before I committed. And my father kind of implied that we should come here, too. So I thought it would be easier for us as a family to stay on the West Coast, but it was more so a family decision to come to the university and it's one of those things where it's cultural. So it's what my parents wanted more than what I wanted, you know? And it's worked out great.

Q. 11 months later kind of how that last play against Georgia kind of changed your world and the momentum it gave you heading into this season.
TUA TAGOVAILOA: So the last play of the game, last year was last year. We're just focused on what we can do as a team to accomplish the things we want to accomplish this year.

So it was awesome that we got the opportunity to do that last year. But we just move on from it.

Q. If you could, evaluate the offensive line for me this year. How well have they developed this year?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: They developed really well. If I got the opportunity to grade them, I'd give them probably 100 percent. They've been protecting me really well. I don't know how many sacks they've given up this year. But, I mean, as a quarterback, if I can't tell, then I think they've been doing a pretty good job.

Q. It's been a lot of focus has been on the month of November. How difficult was the month of November to go through this season?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: It's very difficult. It takes a toll on your body. And you do start to feel a little fatigue. But I think as a team we have things we want to accomplish as a team and we do have that in mind. So I think that's what keeps us motivated.

Q. When you came in at halftime last year against Georgia, how much of that was just instinct and going on adrenaline, and how much did you really have time to think about, okay, here's what has to be done? And how much have you changed since that game with the whole season under your belt?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I just came into the game thinking that it was another opportunity. It was an opportunity and I just thought that I needed to make the best of my opportunity. And I think we have improved and there's still work to be done.

Q. Would the Tua of 2017 have taken that sack against Georgia, versus the Tua of 2018? Because we know what happened afterwards. Would the Tua of 2018 have taken that sack against Georgia in 2017?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I mean, his name was Tua. My name is Tua. There's no difference. There's no change. I don't know. I don't know how to answer that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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