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Tua Tagovailoa derailed Hugh Freeze's first season with Auburn football in shocking way

By Andrew Hughes

Tua Tagovailoa did something wildly destructive to Freeze's first season with Auburn: steering Taulia away from the Tigers
Tua Tagovailoa did something wildly destructive to Freeze's first season with Auburn: steering Taulia away from the Tigers / Megan Briggs/GettyImages
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Tua Tagovailoa refused to let his little brother Taulia join Hugh Freeze's Auburn football program ahead of the 2023 season -- derailing what could've been a first season to remember for Freeze on the Plains.

"We're an Alabama family," Tua told his younger brother (h/t CBS Sports). "You're not going to Auburn."

Taulia choosing to stay at Maryland meant Freeze wasn't going after one of the more expensive portal QBs from a season ago. He got Payton Thorne instead, and the fit in the half-Freeze-half-Philip Montgomery mess of an offense was a rough one.

Taulia in Thorne's place wouldn't have ensured similar results for the Tigers, nor would it have guaranteed the Terrapins star's stats would've been replicated in the SEC. But having the younger Tagovailoa brother, a former Nick Saban recruit to boot, would've been a major win for the Tigers from a narrative standpoint. The Freeze-runs-Alabama plotline would've had more juice stealing a former Crimson Tide QB who blossomed since leaving Tuscaloosa. Not to mention Thorne's shine from his 2021 season at Michigan State was gone after a down year in 2022.

Maybe that narrative momentum would've carried over onto Pat Dye Field. We'll never know, though. Tagovailoa is with the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Thorne now has a more stable situation with Freeze now calling the plays with his career right-hand man, Derrick Nix.

Alabama-Auburn football rivalry lives on with Tua Tagovailoa snub

It's truly a shame Tua held his brother back from experiencing a Tiger Walk. And being the biggest star in a football-obsessed town who would've been an even bigger star in the sport in the SEC spotlight.

Taulia was collateral of the Iron Bowl rivalry. Alabama-Auburn is clearly serious enough for an older brother to deny his younger brother potential greatness and keep him in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten.

Perhaps Taulia can make it up to football fans in Alabama by signing with the UFL's Birmingham Stallions.

It's no Taulia on the Tigers, but it's the best we can get at this point.

Thanks, Tua.

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