Tua Tagovailoa on Fitzmagic, Alabama wideouts, and his new foundation

Yahoo Sports’ Matt Harmon goes 1-on-1 with the Dolphins quarterback. The rookie QB dives in on his relationship with Ryan Fitzpatrick, and what he thinks of the possibilities of his former college teammates DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle joining him in Miami. Tua also talks about how he plans to give back to communities in Hawaii, Tuscaloosa, and Miami with his new foundation. Tagovailoa joined Yahoo Sports thanks to his partnership with Truist, and official retail bank of the NFL.

Video transcript

[CHEERING]

MATT HARMON: Hyped now to be joined by Dolphins Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Tua, Good morning, man. Happy to be talking with you today. Thanks for spending some time with us.

TUA TAGOVAILOA: Good morning. Thank you guys for having me.

MATT HARMON: Tua, you're here on behalf of Truist. Give me a little bit of background on what you're working with with them and what they've got going on.

TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, well, I'm really excited to be working with Truist who recently announced that they're an official retail bank of the NFL, which is pretty cool. And today, I'll be launching my foundation which is the Tua Foundation. You know, I'm working with Truist because we have a shared passion, inspiring and building better lives and better communities.

MATT HARMON: I love that. What is some of the details with your foundation specifically?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: What I'm trying to do is make a difference in my hometown, which is communities in Hawaii and Tuscaloosa, as well as here, my current home, which is Miami. Those three communities that have helped impact my life and my family's life will be making three grants totaling $50,000 into those three areas-- Hawaii, Tuscaloosa, and then also here in Miami.

MATT HARMON: Obviously you found a new home in Miami as a rookie quarterback this year. You know, I just talked to your fellow Miami quarterback the other day, Ryan Fitzpatrick. What did you learn from him? What did he bring to the table during your rookie season?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: I've learned a lot from Ryan. Having a veteran of six years in the NFL, I've learned a lot of things as far as studying and what to look at when you're looking at film within defenses and then players like individual players. Which guys on our team would have a good match-up against the opposing team's starting DB? But it was also pretty cool to have seen Ryan go out there and also do it, not just hear him talk about it in the film room, but then also see him play live games and also do it.

MATT HARMON: If you had to pick sort of your ideal wide receiver to work with, what would it look like? Because to me coming out of the NFL draft a couple of years ago, I thought you really reminded me a lot of like a Drew Brees type of passer-- that get the ball out quick anticipatory type thing. I'm not trying to put too much pressure on you here--

TUA TAGOVAILOA: No. [LAUGHS]

MATT HARMON: --do a future Hall of Fame or anything like. That but that very-- the anticipation, getting things out on time, hitting quick hitters, everything like that-- the Dolphins didn't necessarily have a guy like a Michael Thomas or something like that on their roster this past year. But what type of wide receiver do you think fits best with you?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, I think the receivers we have right now actually do fit my personality of my play. I think the biggest thing was for me really getting into the playbook and understanding where everyone needs to go on what everyone needs to do. And that's what I'm working on this off-season trying to get on the same page with our guys for this upcoming season. We're trying to make this leap from year one to year two.

MATT HARMON: I just talked about receivers-- some of your former teammates-- DeVonta Smith, Jaylen Waddle. These guys are coming in to the league. You guys got high picks there. How awesome would it be if you were somehow able to reunite with one of your old Bama teammates playing wide receiver for you?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, I'd be excited if the Miami Dolphins chose either or Smitty or Jaylen Waddle. They're both very athletic, both very good guys off the field. So if the opportunity presents itself to where we can play with each other, I think that'd be something very exciting.

MATT HARMON: Well, hey, I'm rooting for it. Thanks so much. This was a lot of fun.

TUA TAGOVAILOA: Thank you, guys. I appreciate you guys having me.