Miami football betting odds favorite to sign Taulia Tagovailoa

The speculation about whether or not former Alabama quarterback Taulia Tagaovailoa will join the Miami football program as a transfer has been rampant since it was revealed he entered the transfer portal last week.

Former Alabama quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa’s entrance into the transfer portal last week created immediate speculation that he will sign with the Miami football program. The odds from Sportsline.Com via 247Sports.Com proclaim the Hurricanes are the favorite to sign Taulia at +200.

Once Taulia’s older brother Tua was drafted by the Miami Dolphins last month the consensus speculations were Taulia would join him in South Florida. There has been a lot of conflicting information about Taulia Tagovailoa projecting whether or not he will matriculate in Coral Gables.

Some reports have stated that the Miami football staff is very high on incoming freshman Tyler VanDyke. Others have anticipated that Taulia will sign with Miami solely based on the fact that Tua was drafted by the Dolphins. The family is very close and they all moved from Hawaii to Alabama when Tua signed with the Crimson Tide.

The assumption he would transfer to Miami solely because of his family is a bit naive. When the Tagovailoa family moved from Hawaii to Alabama they lived in Alabaster which is a suburb of Birmingham about 55 miles from Tuscaloosa. Taulia played high school football at Thompson in Alabaster.

In 2019, Taulia Tagovailoa was the third-team QB for the Crimson Tide behind his brother and rising redshirt junior Mac Jones. When Tua was lost for the season in November, Jones and Taulia each ascended a spot up on the depth chart.

If Tagovailoa signs with the Miami football program he will likely have to sit out the 2020 season as a transfer. Houston graduate transfer D’Eriq King is a virtual lock as the starting QB for Miami in 2020. Tagaovailoa has three seasons of eligibility wherever his next collegiate destination is.

If he chooses to join Tua in South Florida, Florida Atlantic and Florida International are other possibilities. FAU is in Boca Raton, about 50 miles away from Coral Gables. Several other schools are candidates to sign the high profile, but largely unproved rising sophomore. The list from 247 Sports is below.

"AUBURN +2000HAWAII +1500OREGON +1000UCF +900South Florida +700FLORIDA ATLANTIC +500Florida International +400MARYLAND +350"

Several of the programs listed above have ties to Tagavailoa or Hawaii. Former Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota attended Oregon and went to the same Hawaii high school, The St. Louis school, as Tua Tagovailoa did.

Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal has been an assistant at Alabama, head coach at FIU and played at Miami from 1989-92. Tagovailoa could come to Miami and challenge VanDyke and potential redshirt seniors N’Kosi Perry and Tate Martell to be the successor to King in 2021. All sorts of possibilities emerge in that scenario.

Martell and Perry could decide to leave Miami as graduate transfers following the 2020 season. If Perry, Martell or both decide to transfer from Miami that would leave a much less challenging situation to be the Hurricanes starting QB in 2021. Projecting that far ahead is difficult and doesn’t help Tagovalioa right now.

FAU, FIU, or South Florida are likely better paths to playing time for Tagovailoa in the future. The other connections that Tagovailoa has to the listed teams are intriguing. Maryland head coach Mike Locksley was the offensive coordinator at Alabama from 2016-18. UCF head coach Josh Heupel is viewed as a QB guru.

FAU and FIU have good mid-major head coaches in Willie Taggart and Butch Davis. It will be interesting to see what Miami does. As the last schools on the board, Auburn and Hawaii are much bigger longshots. Hawaii just hired former Arizona State head coach Todd Graham to succeed Nick Rolovich who is now at Washington State.

The Hurricanes being the favorite is more based on who Sportsline believes which college football programs the betting public will put their money on than which school Tagovailoa will sign with. It will be an interesting process worth following until Tagovailoa chooses his next destination.