“The idea of a team that won 11 regular-season games and a playoff semifinal switching quarterbacks at halftime of the national championship game is befitting of message-board rumors or the plot of a TV show like Friday Night Lights; it’s not something that would seem to originate from the mind of a historically great and famously stubborn head coach.” And yet, that’s what happened. And then another Alabama national championship happened. The Ringer: Tua Tagovailoa’s Rise Seemed Unlikely, but It Was Part of Nick Saban’s Championship Plan.

+ WaPo with a little more background on Tuanigamanuolepola Tagovailoa.

+ ESPN: How Tua Tagovailoa became Alabama’s unlikely legend. (Malo Lava, Tua.)