TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Some questioned why Nick Saban chose to play star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa against The Citadel after the sophomore, who has dealt with a knee injury since the Arkansas game, took several hits and exited the game against Mississippi State last week.

The 12th-year head coach had a message for them following the 50-17 win over The Citadel.

“I thought he played pretty well,” Saban said after the game. “I think he was 18-for-22, and for a guy that most people thought shouldn’t play in the game, I thought responded really well by taking the challenge and going out there and doing what was best for his team.

All of our fans, they come to the game to see him play. So, I think that’s fair that he goes out and competes like every other player on our team, and I thought he did a good job in the game. We got off to a little slow start on offense, but once we got going, I thought we did a pretty good job. He made some good reads, he made some good throws.”

Tagovailoa’s final stat line was 340 yards and four total touchdowns on 18-of-22 passing against The Citadel. With those 340 yards, he has now thrown for 2,865 yards this season, which ranks No. 6 on the Alabama single-season passing yards list. AJ McCarron (2012) is fifth with 2,933 yards.

With a 68-yard scoring pass to tight end Irv Smith Jr., Tagovailoa also scored his 31st passing touchdown of the season, surpassing McCarron’s total (30) from the 2012 season for the UA single-season record. Tagovailoa, a true sophomore, accomplished the feat in 10 and three-quarter games.

But maybe most important was Tagovailoa did all of this without the brace on his right knee.

Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa

“I felt a lot better,” Tagovailoa said. “I think the brace kind of restricted movement for me. It kind of tightened up a lot of things with my calves and my hamstring, too. A lot of stretching went into this week, and I couldn’t thank Jeff (Allen) and his staff for doing a tremendous job with helping me out.”

So, does Tagovailoa feel 100 percent following the Tide’s Week 11 non-conference game?

“That’s hard for me to say if I am or if I’m not,” he said. “Anything can happen in football. It’s a physical sport.”

As for fans wanting his to watch Saturday’s game from the sideline at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tagovailoa said he “didn’t really hear any of that.” What he did hear, along with everyone else, was the loud ovation backup quarterback Jalen Hurts received when he entered the game.

Like Tagovailoa, Hurts has been dealing with an ankle injury after the junior underwent a minor procedure following the Tennessee game. The Citadel game was Hurts’ first action since Oct. 20 and he threw for 31 yards and a touchdown to DeVonta Smith (hamstring) on 3-of-4 passing.

“We wanted to play Jalen somewhere between 12-15 plays in the game because he was ready to play at some point in the game with the good players so that hopefully having not played for several weeks, we could get a little rust off,” Saban said. “So, he did a good job, and I think that’ll be helpful to him coming back and be able to develop confidence, as well.”

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).

*** Don't miss a VIP update with our FREE trial of BamaOnLine. Sign up HERE ***