Tagovailoa was carted off the field last Saturday against Indiana.
Maryland football starting quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa is a game-time decision after reaggravating a sprained MCL against Indiana this past Saturday, head coach Mike Locksley announced Tuesday. Tagovailoa’s knee was initially injured in the team’s game against Michigan on Sept. 24.
Redshirt freshman Billy Edwards Jr. would step into the starting quarterback role for the Terps if Tagovailoa cannot go. He relieved Tagovailoa when he was carted off against the Hoosiers and has seen playing time in a few other instances this season, but is yet to start a game in his career after redshirting at Wake Forest a season ago.
Tagovailoa, considered by many to be the most talented Maryland quarterback in many years, was included on multiple award watch lists this year and has been an All-Big Ten honorable mention in each of the past two seasons. He was voted as a preseason All-Big Ten player by Pro Football Focus, Athlon Sports, Lindy’s Sports and Phil Steele.
In his third season with the Terps, Tagovailoa has been putting together a solid 2022 campaign through seven games, completing 72.5% of his passes for 2,001 yards and 13 touchdowns, adding 77 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.
He has thrown for 6,872 yards and 46 touchdowns in his career, both of which rank second all-time at Maryland. His 2021 season broke a handful of single-season program records, including passing yards, completions and touchdowns.
Maryland has been no stranger to injuries at the quarterback position in recent years, as the Terps’ primary signal-caller has gone down on multiple occasions in the past decade or so. Since 2010, a Maryland quarterback has suffered a season-ending injury 13 separate times to a total of nine players, so head coach Mike Locksley and his team may consider themselves lucky that Tagovailoa was able to avoid adding his name on that list.
While the Terps would’ve assuredly preferred not to have Tagovailoa go down at any point this season, the fact that he should be able to return before the season’s end is promising considering the initial reaction following the injury. Locksley called the diagnosis a “huge sense of relief.”
Maryland hosts Northwestern this Saturday before the team’s bye week.