As the man in the black No. 13 jersey was spotted slinging footballs around the Alabama practice facility on Tuesday, the entire city of Tuscaloosa breathed a collective sigh of relief. 

Sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the Crimson Tide’s savior of last year’s national championship game, was nearly a full participant in practice during the media viewing period after breaking his index finger a week ago. He will compete with Jalen Hurts for the starting position both this spring and during the fall.

Although his hand was taped and he shook it after several throws, Tagovailoa is recovering well and remains in good spirits, according to coach Nick Saban. 

“Tua’s actually able to do stuff in practice today, actually able to hand the ball off, could grip the ball, could throw the ball a little bit,” Saban said. “We’re really excited that he’s making a good recovery, he’s got a really good positive attitude about it, and we feel good about where he’s heading.” 

Saban lauded the team’s medical staff for getting Tagovailoa back in shape to play and for their work with all of the team’s injuries. 

“[Orthopedic consultants] Dr. [Lyle] Cain, Dr. [James] Andrews, their whole group of people over there has done a phenomenal job with so many players here,” Saban said. “I guess it’s a little bit like insurance. It doesn’t matter what kind of insurance you have until you have to make a claim… It’s just amazing, the technology that we have now and the expertise that our people have in terms of doing a great job with our players.” 

All five quarterbacks donned black non-contact jerseys like usual, and Saban said Tagovailoa’s injury likely won’t change the team’s approach to contacting him during practice. 

“We don’t want to hit any of the quarterbacks, we want to get them as many reps as they can,” Saban said. “I don’t think you can single one guy out and say you can do this to one guy and you can’t do it to the other, so we try to treat them all the same… The swelling’s down, he’s getting his strength back, he’s getting his grip back, so I don’t think we have to make any special provisions for him in terms of how he practices and what he does relative to his pain tolerance.”