Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa Says He's Fully Recovered From Ankle Injury

In case anybody was worried about the strength of the Alabama football team, Heisman finalist Tua Tagovailoa is back to full strength after undergoing surgery for a high ankle sprain in December.

"I am fully recovered," the sophomore quarterback said as a guest on Friday's The Paul Finebaum Show (h/t Charlie Potter), "and I am satisfied with where I'm at in terms of how I'm feeling health-wise."

Tagovailoa suffered his high ankle sprain in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 1. He was back under center for the College Football Playoff, where Alabama lost 44-16 to the Clemson Tigers in the CFP National Championship on Jan. 7. 

Tagovailoa was able to return to the field so quickly because of an innovative surgery performed by Dr. Thomas Clanton referred to as "the tightrope." Ahead of the national title game, Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger published an explainer on Clanton and the tightrope: 

"The tightrope is a relatively new innovation in the treatment of high ankle sprains, in which ligaments and tissues around the leg bones, the tibia and fibula, are loosened and become unstable. The tightrope offers an alternative to the traditional methods of treatment: rest and rehabilitation or the insertion of screws into the tibia and fibula, bonding them like one would a pair of two-by-fours with a nail.

"In tightrope fixation, surgeons slip a high-strength suture through small holes in the bone, fasten it with small metal buttons and then tighten it as you would a zip tie. The procedure takes about 25 minutes."

Dellenger noted that Alabama has been using this procedure for years—unspurprisingly, ahead of the national curve—but Tagovailoa's recovery thrust it into the spotlight. 

The 21-year-old also played all of 2018 banged up, playing through a nagging knee injury. 

Even at sub-100 percent, Tagovailoa posted 3,966 yards through the air along with 46 touchdowns against just six interceptions. Four of those picks came in two of Alabama's last three games.

Alabama and Tagovailoa will take the field for the first time in 2019 on Saturday for the Crimson Tide's A-Day spring game beginning at 2 p.m. EST on ESPN2.