At his weekly press conference, Tua was asked a number of questions about the Jacksonville quarterback and their “rivalry” going back to their college days.
To me, I think Bobbi Althoff interviews are less awkward, but you be the judge. Was this a bit too much?
I wanted to ask about the 2019 College Football Playoff Championship. What do you remember about that game?
Tua: “We lost.”
Does it haunt you?
Tua: We lost, brother. Any time you lose any of those games, they stick with you, and I wasn’t happy about that performance, the way we came out as a team offensively especially, but it is what it is. You learn from all those mistakes and you grow from that, but it wasn’t a good memory.
Is there any extra motivation facing off against Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence on Sunday?
Tua: No, because I’m not playing him; he doesn’t play defense……I’m not playing against him. I’m playing against their defense, the scheme that their guy has for them and they’ve got a good scheme. They’ve got a good scheme.
Do you remember the first time you heard the name Trevor Lawrence, like when you had an idea that he might be something really big?
Tua: I mean, leading up to the national championship, they had to win their game prior and so we knew of him and then in that national championship game, that’s where, really, I think he made a statement in who he was as a player and just in general. That was his freshman year, too. Him coming in the national championship game, leading his team and we had a really good Alabama team, too, and he did what he had to do and they killed us. (laughter) They killed us.
What’s the process like for you of going up against a defense that has a new coordinator that doesn’t have any real tape that you can go up and study?
Tua: So for me, I study their players that they have. Although not the same scheme, just who’s good at covering, who’s someone that we think, OK, maybe we have a little more leverage with this guy in coverage. And that’s how I sort of base it off of just watching film on the guys that are on the field. Then you go back to New Orleans when he was the DC to the Falcons – we had a joint practice with them last year. There were guys that were on the team last year that played with him in Atlanta and then there were also some guys that were on the team with him when he was coaching the Saints, when he was the DC. So we got a good amount of information that we can collect from a group of guys in the locker room and then just watching tape.
Going back to Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence for a second. You guys, your paths are kind of similar. You were both highly touted coming out of high school, played at big programs, won national championships. Are you friends? Do you have a relationship with him? Do you know him at all?
Tua: We’ve crossed paths before. I’ve seen him on vacation a couple times in the Bahamas. That’s all I can say and there’s just a mutual respect between us there.
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