ATLANTA -- Everyone wants to know how Tua Tagovailoa’s injured ankle is healing and when the Alabama quarterback will be able to return to the field ahead of the College Football Playoff.

One person that can provide some insight is left tackle Jonah Williams, who had the same procedure.

“He’s doing well,” Williams said. “I mean, it’s a surgery that almost, I feel like, everyone on the team has had, you know when you think about it. So, he’ll be good. I had that and then I had a much bigger one, so it’s fine. We call it a stitch job. You just throw some wires in there. I know Cam (Robinson) had it and was back in like seven or eight days getting ready for LSU in 2014.”

Tagovailoa left Saturday’s SEC Championship Game versus then-No. 4 Georgia on two different occasions, with the last keeping the sophomore signal caller on the sideline for the full contest after Williams stepped on his foot. Alabama head coach Nick Saban compared the ankle injury the Heisman Trophy contender suffered to the one Jalen Hurts sustained against Tennessee.

“We did an MRI on his ankle. He had a high ankle sprain,” Saban said Sunday on the Orange Bowl teleconference. “We’ve got a great medical staff here, and they scope those things to get him to come back together a little bit quicker. It’s usually about a two-week deal. We’ll re-evaluate him in two weeks and see where he is. Very similar injury to what Jalen had, which took him a couple weeks to come back, as well.

“That’s as much as we can say about it right now, but we’re hopeful that by the time we get started in practice, he’ll be ready to go.”

Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa

Alabama won’t practice this week on the heels of a 35-28 win over Georgia for the SEC title and won’t play in a game again until Saturday, Dec. 29, when the top-ranked Crimson Tide plays No. 4 Oklahoma in the Capital One Orange Bowl semifinal in Miami Gardens, Fla., at 7 p.m. CT.

Tagovailoa was not in Atlanta on Wednesday with his teammates for media interviews because of his injured ankle, but the sophomore will be present for Thursday’s Home Depot College Football Awards. The awards show will air on ESPN at 6 p.m. CT from the College Football Hall of Fame.

Earlier in the day, Tagovailoa was named SEC Offensive Player of the Year. He is also a finalist for two awards that will be announced in Atlanta on Thursday in the Maxwell Award and Davey O’Brien Award. He is a finalist for five national awards, including the Heisman Trophy.

Williams, who has a biased opinion as his left tackle, believes Tagovailoa should win the Heisman.

“I think if you look at the impact he’s made on the offense and just the consistency of our offense, I know that we’ve played some of the best defenses in the country and we didn’t slow more than we played maybe some lesser defenses. But I think that in every game our offense has been able to do what it takes to obviously be 13-0,” Williams said. “I think we have the all-time scoring record for Alabama and hopefully still have two games left if all goes as planned.

“So, I just think that he’s at the centerpiece of that, and there’s a lot of great parts around him -- he’d be the first to tell you that. But I think that him kind of being at the helm of that, it’s hard to top.”

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

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