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John Keim
MADRID — As Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota dined with his parents and brother Tuesday night, one thought dominated their discussion: Can you believe football took Mariota from a tiny high school in Hawaii many years ago to starting in the first NFL game played in Spain?
“Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine I’d be sitting here today,” Mariota said. “We were like, ‘This is wild.’ My dad was like, ‘This is unbelievable that we’re sitting here today and you’re playing football and this game has brought us here.'”
But Mariota is not the only quarterback from Saint Louis High School in Honolulu to start in this game. That, of course, is also where Tua Tagovailoa began his playing career, following in Mariota’s footsteps.
Sunday’s game between two 3-7 teams (9:30 a.m. ET on NFL Network, NFL+) was supposed to be a matchup between Jayden Daniels and Tagovailoa, but Daniels suffered a dislocated left elbow two weeks ago. That paved the way for Mariota to start, doing so against a player he has mentored since Tagovailoa was in high school.
Tagovailoa was a junior in high school when Mariota began working with him at camps. Tagovailoa once said that when others pushed him away, Mariota would pull him aside at a time when Mariota was one of the top quarterbacks in the country.
Though many assumed that Tagovailoa would follow Mariota and play at Oregon, he pivoted and headed for Alabama — all with Mariota’s support.
“A lot of people know I looked up to Marcus when I was in high school,” Tagovailoa said. “I was a big fan of him, still am, just of the person that he is outside of the player and just happy for his success. I know he’s been going through ebbs and flows throughout years and teams, but if you get to know the kind of person he is, I think the playing and whatnot is second.”
Mariota has always deflected praise for helping Tagovailoa.
But both quarterbacks have had success and failure in the NFL. Mariota was the second pick by Tennessee in 2015, but injuries and benchings have led to an up-and-down career; he’s with his fifth franchise — as a highly valued backup.
Tagovailoa has played with only Miami since it drafted him fifth in 2020. He has made the Pro Bowl (2023) and suffered injuries, including three documented concussions, since entering the NFL. He has been praised and criticized.
But he’s still the starter in Miami, and he’s hoping time overseas can help spark the interest of a young player from another country.
“I think it’s a really cool opportunity for a lot of the kids back home in Hawaii and a lot of the kids in Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, wherever they are within the Pacific,” Tagovailoa said, “to be able to see two Polynesian quarterbacks go at it. And then it’s also cool to see everything come full circle with me being able to look up to Marcus, to having a chance to play against him.”
Mariota agreed.
“For Tua and myself, we grew up in the middle of the Pacific,” he said, “far away from here. The fact that we get a chance to be part of this game is special, and I don’t take that for granted at all.”