At times, the story of Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's college career has approached folklore status.
If he played before the digital era, tales of his feats would present an American Samoan rival to Paul Bunyan, replete with a ukulele instead of an axe.
Alabama has signed five-star quarterbacks before. But Trent Dilfer compared high-school Tagovailoa favorably to college sophomore Aaron Rodgers.
As a true freshman, Tagovailoa did not play a snap of football with the outcome undetermined until leading a come-from-behind win in the second half and overtime of the national championship.
He started his first college game Sept.