On the sideline before Auburn’s game against Arkansas in late September, a Tigers staffer brought up Tua Tagovailoa.

“I saw Tua had a big day today,” he said unprompted, referring to Tagovailoa’s 387-yard game against Texas A&M.

It’s not just college football people who have been talking about Alabama’s sophomore quarterback for a while, though.

Two weeks after that Texas A&M game, after Tagovailoa threw for 334 yards and four scores in a little more than two quarters against Arkansas, a longtime NFL personnel man told AL.com something that’s since been confirmed by other football sources.

If Tagovailoa was eligible to enter the NFL Draft -- he’s not as only a sophomore -- the belief among at least some in the scouting world is he’d have a good chance of being the No. 1 overall pick.

Tagovailoa is that good and that special.

“When he was getting recruited by Alabama, a lot of guys in their recruiting office, I was working for Seattle, and a lot of ‘em would say, ‘Oh, he’s a lot like your guy,’ meaning Russell Wilson,” said Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy, who was an NFL scout for 18 years. “... I think Tua’s got kind of the same dimensions from a body type perspective. Anytime as a scout that you’re making a comparison, it kind of starts there. They’re very similar athletes, but the one thing I think Tua does even better than Russ is that I think he anticipates throws better. He can really visualize a throw. Guys don’t have to be open. He sees openings before they happen, and those are things you can’t coach.

“So I think the NFL’s going to look at his skill set, and he does a lot of things that you can’t coach — see the field, throw accurately, be athletic. He’s got a really unique package.”

Wilson, a four-time Pro Bowl selection with the Seahawks, is a popular comparison for Tagovailoa.

That longtime NFL personnel man compared him to someone else though, to a modern day version of one of the great all-time lefty quarterbacks, Steve Young.

“I think he’s really an easy guy to evaluate,” Nagy said. “I really do. I think he owes Russell Wilson to a degree because Russell was the pioneer for the under 5-11 quarterback in the NFL. And I don’t know if Tua’s going to measure under 5-11, but he’s going to be right in there. He’s going to be under 6-foot, I think. Russell’s knocked down that door for him. If someone would have done it before Russell, I promise you he wouldn’t have been the 76th pick in the draft. I think if you re-drafted his draft class right now, he’d easily be a top-three, top-five pick.”

Only eight FBS quarterbacks have thrown more than 23 touchdowns this season. Tagovailoa’s thrown for more than that, 24, in just the first half.

Despite attempting only one pass beyond the third quarter, Tagovailoa is tied for sixth nationally with 27 passing touchdowns, has three rushing touchdowns and still only has two turnovers. He didn’t throw his first interception until last Saturday in a 29-0 win against LSU.

He leads the nation with an average of 17.9 yards per completion, is first in the SEC in completion percentage and his quarterback rating of 215.2 is 45 points better than anyone else in the SEC.

Heisman Trophy voters are well aware. So are NFL evaluators.

That longtime NFL personnel man was in attendance for the Alabama-LSU game on Saturday. While asking him whether he still thinks Tagovailoa would be an early first-round pick in next year’s draft if he were eligible for it, he put up his right index finger and began nodding.

“Number one,“ he said.

Matt Zenitz is an Alabama and Auburn reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mzenitz.