For the first time since quarterback Tua Tagovailoa went down with a concussion on Sept. 12, Miami coach Mike McDaniel said he expects to see the former Alabama All-American back on the field for the Dolphins during the 2024 NFL season.

“I do expect to see him playing football in 2024,” McDaniel said on Monday, “but where that is exactly, we’ll let the process continue since we still have time before you even could entertain anything. We’ll make sure that he’s diligent this week and assess after that.”

McDaniel’s assessment came after Tagovailoa’s college coach, Nick Saban, said on Friday that the quarterback wanted to continue his career.

“I talked to him right afterwards,” Saban said during an appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.” “He’s good. He’s always positive and very enthusiastic. (Saban’s wife) Terry talks to his mom a lot. You know, they want prayers from everybody out there to try to help him get well. He really wants to play. Whether he can ever play or get the opportunity to again, I guess that’s a medical decision somebody has to make.

“But, you know, Tua’s the best. And I hate it for him, because he’s such a good person, does everything the right way. He’s the only player that I’ve ever had that if you ask him, ‘How are you doing today?’ he says, ‘Great, Coach. Thanks for asking.’ I mean, every time. The guy’s just phenomenal. You love to see people like that have success and not have this kind of adversity. But, hopefully, he’ll be able to overcome it.”

Tagovailoa left the Dolphins’ 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 12 with a concussion. The quarterback’s injury caused heightened concern because he had sustained two concussions during the 2022 season that caused him to miss five games.

Miami placed Tagovailoa on injured reserve on Sept. 17, forcing the quarterback to the sideline for at least four games. The earliest that Tagovailoa could play again would be Oct. 27 against the Arizona Cardinals.

That will leave the Dolphins with at least one more game without Tagovailoa – Sunday’s visit to the Indianapolis Colts.

“I didn’t really allow myself any sort of contemplation moments on whether he would or wouldn’t,” McDaniel said about Tagovailoa’s possible return. “… It is exciting that I do think he’ll play football this year. I never went down that rabbit hole of whether he would or wouldn’t just because I’ve learned through circumstance how that’s the wrong question to be asking. The right questions are completely 100 percent toward the human being — and the player as a result.”

The Dolphins have scored two touchdowns in 13 quarters since Tagovailoa left the lineup.

Miami lost its first game without Tagovailoa to the Seattle Seahawks 24-3 on Sept. 22. Backup quarterback Skylar Thompson sustained a rib injury in that game and has not played since.

The Dolphins finished the Seattle game with practice-squad QB Tim Boyle on the field.

In its past two games – a 31-12 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 30 and a 15-10 win over the New England Patriots on Oct. 6 – Miami has used Tyler “Snoop” Huntley at quarterback. The Dolphins signed Huntley off the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad after Tagovailoa got hurt.

The Dolphins are coming out of their bye week.

“This bye week was unique, I guess you could say,” McDaniel said. “A positive of frontloaded adversity for our team is that you kind of have to do stuff you do on the bye week before the bye week comes to really take a look at yourself. And when your results aren’t matching the way you forecast, it forces you to really nail down some things. …

“I think what was interesting about this bye week was it was a couple layers deeper into something we were already doing before the bye week, just because that’s kind of how you operate when you’re trying to get a team right. You have to really deep dive in, OK, how are we – at the time it was: How are we 1-3? What has led us to that, what would have given us a chance to win, what are the things, what are the positives, because it’s not all black-and-white, and how do you find ways to improve? Because, ironically, this season for the Miami Dolphins is no different than the two previous, in my mind.

“How do I say something like that? Well, you win, you lose, you have stats that are favorable, you have stats that aren’t, but you have to find adverse situations to grow through as a team so that when you’re building up for however long, when you really think about it, single-elimination or elimination games. Whether that’s to get into the playoffs or that you’re in the playoffs, those elimination games are the buildup of a lot of work, and you need a team that is used to high-stress situations. One way you can induce stress is have a three-game losing streak early. I think the biggest thing is that there are some teams that have maybe zero, one or two losses, that in the NFL you can get lulled to sleep in terms of you can get comfortable. You can be like, ‘All right, we’re winning some games,’ and you can lose. The most important, absolute non-negotiable is you have to be playing your best football at the end of the year for you to like the results of the end of the year.”

Tagovailoa is in his fifth season with the Dolphins. In 2022, Tagovailoa led the NFL in passing-efficiency rating. Last season, he led the NFL in passing yards and went to the Pro Bowl Games.

In 53 NFL regular-season starts, Tagovailoa has completed 1,126-of-1,685 yards for 12,955 yards with 83 touchdowns and 40 interceptions.

Three other quarterbacks in NFL history have had at least 12,500 passing yards, 80 touchdown passes and a .668 completion percentage in their first 53 starts – Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert and Deshaun Watson. In the 2020 NFL Draft, Burrow was the first pick, Tagovailoa the fifth and Herbert the sixth.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.