NEW YORK — Maryland head football coach Mike Locksley did not mince words when asked what redshirt sophomore quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa's MVP performance in Wednesday's New Era Pinstripe Bowl means entering 2022. Before 29,653 people at Yankee Stadium, Tagovailoa completed 20 of 24 passes (83.3%) for 265 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 42 yards on four rushes (10.5 average), as the Terrapins (7-6, 3-6 Big Ten) throttled Virginia Tech (6-7, 4-4 ACC) to put an exclamation point on 2021.
"I hope it quiets some of the critics and maybe he gets a little bit of the respect that I think he deserves as a quarterback," Locksley — who capped Year 3 in College Park, Maryland, by engineering UMD's first winning season since 2014 — said. "I feel like we've got one of the best quarterbacks in the league, if not the country. As I've said before, we wouldn't be in this situation that we're in with the winning season if it wasn't for Taulia.
"Obviously, he's not the finished product and I think you'll continue to see him get better as with all aspects of our program. But really proud of him and the way he's responded, the way he has a positive impact on others, his teammates. Very unselfish. ... Hopefully, this is the start of the '22 season and maybe we can get him a little bit of respect in terms of being one of the top quarterbacks in the country — which I really feel and believe he is."
Senior wide receiver Darryl Jones echoed his coach's sentiments. After he caught four passes for 111 yards (27.8 average) and two touchdowns — including a pivotal 70-yard score at the second quarter's 9:13 mark to put Maryland up 14-3 — Jones shared a strong perspective.
"I would definitely agree," said Jones, who later added a 32-yard touchdown that widened the Terps' advantage to 34-10 with 6:48 left in the third quarter. "You could see, from the start of the season till now, how 'Lia has progressed. People sometimes forget, with his name, that he's still a young kid learning and you can see that he can learn and he has progressed. And I think 'Lia's done a fantastic job from coming in, taking over, being a leader and showing people how he works and how to work. And he's just pushing and pulling guys along every day. So I definitely do think 'Lia's proved some critics wrong."
As Jones alluded to, Taulia Tagovailoa — Alabama legend and second-year Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's brother — brings the aura of being a former college football star's younger sibling. Still, following a second-year campaign as Maryland's starter in which he tied the program's single-season record for passing touchdowns at 26, Taulia Tagovailoa is making a name for himself with the Terps.
"I think, obviously, it gives us a lot of confidence going into the offseason and going into next season," said Tagovailoa — a four-star recruit in 2019 out of Alabaster (Ala.) Thompson and one-year Crimson Tide quarterback before transferring to UMD — who closes the season after going 328 for 474 (69.2%) with 3,860 yards and 26 touchdowns against 11 interceptions through all 13 games. "And for me, myself, I think it was good playing against an ACC team. And I don't know — I think I'm just ready, going into spring ball and offseason training with confidence. And I think it's more so just our team kind of building off of this going into our next season."
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