Richard Todd was not exactly expecting the call, but he knew quickly what it was referencing.

Nearly 35 years removed from his NFL career, Todd is at last no longer the answer to a trivia question. When Tua Tagovailoa was selected No. 5 overall by the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night, he bumped Todd from the record books as the most-recent former Alabama quarterback taken in the first round of the NFL draft.

“It took a long time; I can’t believe it took so long for that to happen,” Todd said via telephone from his home in Florence. “There’s been some great quarterbacks at Alabama since my time. Maybe the draft scenarios are different now, but it sure is strange no Alabama quarterback has been taken in the first round.”

Todd was taken No. 6 in the 1976 NFL draft by the New York Jets, and went on to play 11 seasons in the league. But since he was picked 44 years ago, no Alabama quarterback had been drafted higher than the third round (Brodie Croyle in 2006) until Tagovailoa this year.

Unlike with Tagovailoa, whose selection by the Dolphins was nationally televised and generated instant headlines, things were a little different in the mid-1970s. Todd said he found out the Jets had picked him over the phone.

“I was in Tuscaloosa, I had my own apartment because football season was over and I was a senior,” Todd said. “So I got a call from (Jets head coach) Lou Holtz at probably 8:30 (a.m.) my time. He goes ‘we’re about to take you. We’re not going to have any problem signing you?’ I go ‘no sir.’ And he hung up the phone and I went back to bed.

“Then I got a call around 1:30 in the afternoon from the Tuscaloosa paper. … The guy said ‘congratulations.’ I said ‘for what?’ He said, ‘you were drafted, sixth player picked.’ I go ‘I was?’ I had no idea.”

Todd starred at Davidson High School in Mobile, and signed with Alabama and coach Paul “Bear” Bryant in the spring of 1972 after first being committed to Auburn. He split time with Gary Rutledge in the Crimson Tide’s wishbone offense in 1973 and 1974 — helping Alabama to a national championship as a sophomore — before taking over as the No. 1 quarterback as a senior in 1975.

Todd led Alabama to the SEC championship and a No. 3 national finish as a senior, capping the season with a 13-6 victory over Penn State in the Sugar Bowl. He said an outstanding performance in that January’s Senior Bowl in Mobile got him on NFL teams’ radars.

“I had a real good Senior Bowl and that was probably the tipping point for me to get drafted,” Todd said. “We threw six times a game at Alabama. I think I went down there and threw for like 250 yards. The Senior Bowl was a big deal for me. If not for that, I’d have probably been picked as an ‘athlete’ in the fourth or fifth round. You just never know.”

Of course, the Jets had an incumbent veteran quarterback when Todd arrived in the NFL. And it was none other than Alabama legend Joe Namath, whom Todd had grown up admiring.

Todd said he met Namath several times during his Alabama career when the NFL icon would return to Tuscaloosa for one reason or another. And he suspects Namath played a part in his being drafted by the Jets.

“We worked out together and kind of hung out together during the summertime,” Todd said. “I think that’s probably one reason the Jets drafted me, was because of Joe. Joe told them ‘this guy from Alabama can throw the ball. Y’all go down and look at him.’”

Namath and Todd split time for much of 1976, with Todd playing mostly in short-yardage running situations early on. Todd took over as the starter in the season’s second half, as Namath continued to have issues with injury.

Namath was released that offseason, turning the full-time starting job over to Todd. He quarterbacked the Jets for the next seven seasons, highlighted by an AFC championship game appearance in 1982.

Todd played two years (1984-85) with the New Orleans Saints before a brief return to the Jets in a reserve role in 1986. He retired after that season with 20,610 yards and 124 touchdowns.

Now 66, Todd has spent the last several years working for the Oppenheimer & Company brokerage and investment banking firm. One of his sons, Gator, played golf at Alabama in the mid-2000s.

Todd still keeps up with Alabama football, and said he’s long been an admirer of Tagovailoa. He said he believes Tagovailoa is “the best player I’ve ever seen that didn’t win the Heisman Trophy.”

“I think he’s remarkable,” Todd said. “If he had stayed healthy, he would have won the Heisman. … His feel for the offensive game is incredible. I’ve never seen a quarterback at that level that could control defenses with his eyes like he could. … These guys today are so advanced. For guys like Tua (and LSU’s Joe) Burrow, it won’t be that big a change for them going into the pro football system.”

Todd was one of 14 Alabama players drafted in the first round under Bryant, who coached the Crimson Tide from 1958-82. Since Saban took over in 2007, 33 Alabama players have been selected in the opening round (though there are a few more NFL teams now).

Todd said the NFL was much more of an afterthought in his day than it is for current players, at least at Alabama.

“I never even thought about playing pro football,” Todd said. “Alabama had a great tradition. You went there to play for Coach Bryant, just like people now go to Alabama to play for Coach Saban. But more people go to Alabama to play for Saban thinking they’re going to play pro football nowadays. Back in my day nobody thought like that.”