Arizona Football: Commit Quarterback Khalil Tate is a Scoring Machine

People talk about Khalil Tate and ponder if he will play quarterback at Arizona. Talk to Tate, there’s no question!

The Arizona football program found an athlete, Khalil Tate, who is a pure talent and extremely athletic. He is a phenomenal high school dual-threat quarterback, frequently dragging defenders into the end zone with him. In just three games, he has already rushed for eleven and passed for three touchdowns for Serra High School in his senior year. When he was a junior, he rushed and passed for 17 touchdowns, that’s 34 touchdowns Wildcats fans!

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As far as being asked over and over again about what position he will play in College, his response is classic, “I am going to play quarterback!” The coaches at Arizona give him advice, “They tell me ‘it’s really up to you; college everyone has the same skills if you move to the next level you pretty much have the game in your hands.'” Quarterback it is, he’s been very clear that he wants to play quarterback, and I believe him.

In Los Angeles, Fred Roggin is a prominent sports newscaster who has a particular program centered on High School football recaps and call-outs. He has a segment called Rogan’s Hero’s. Khalil has made the list a number of times. He takes this stuff in stride as he is focused on his number one goal. “The current goal is to win the league for our Serra team, football is a team sport, I could run a zillion yards but if we don’t win, the team loses,” said Tate.

What is very surprising is that Khalil is younger than most seniors playing Varsity football who has already committed to a Pac-12 football team; he is 16 years old.  Tate is about to graduate this December from Serra High School in Gardena. He confirmed to ZonaZealots that he is still planning on getting to Tucson in January, ahead of the rest of his 2016 class teammates.

Asked if he has senioritis, “I just take it one day at a time, if you look too far in the future, you forget about why you’re really on this earth. Take it one day at a time and really understand life.”

I just take it one day at a time, if you look too far in the future, you forget about why you’re really on this earth. – Khalil Tate

Tate respects the coaching staff at the University of Arizona; I asked him how he felt about Director of Personnel Matt Dudek, “He’s a down to earth person, he’s honest. In college, you don’t get a lot of honesty from coaches..the whole coaching staff is honest.”

“They just want to get to know you and go to the next level with you.”

He says people are surprised he is only 16, “the majority of people I talk to have that reaction, a lot of people.” He truly comes off at least as an 18-year-old adult. He is composed and confident on the field, he’s adept at answering questions, knows what he wants, and goes after it. He is one of those young men who are wise beyond his years.

When he scores, he doesn’t do a whole lot of celebrating, he just stands there, stares at all the defenders he left in his wake, and eventually slowly gives the football back to the referee. “Every play, I get it from the coach, my main focus is just to get yards, because, on offense, you want yardage to set up a touchdown. Also, the ultimate goal of the quarterback is to win. So I know every play if I’m getting positive yardage, we are going to win regardless.”

I advised Khalil that he earned a total of 496 yards in the Narbonne game, his reaction was what a coach would want to hear. “There were a lot of plays we left on the field,” he said, “there could have been more.  The receivers looked up a little too early and kind of jumped the ball, that hurt us a little bit.” This response was to a question about a game where Khalil scored six rushing touchdowns himself, so you get the picture.

https://twitter.com/serrasportsmom/status/646168973722038272

Before we go any further, soak in this highlight video from the Narbonne game:

In that game, Tate played against two of his future teammates, DeVaughn Cooper, and Sean Riley. We got them together for a picture after the Serra celebration, and the Narbonne on-field postgame team meeting was finally over. I asked him what it felt like, “We are good friends, I talk to them all the time, we hang out on weekends, and we had been talking about that day for a long time, so after the game, they were laughing, but it’s like, we can’t stay mad for too long.”

DeVaughn Cooper, Khalil Tate, Sean Riley after the Narbonne vs. Serra HS FB Game – Sept 18. 2015- Photo by Shereen Rayan

Rich Rod mentioned that the incoming freshman seem much more prepared these days to play in college from the get-go. I asked Khalil if he agreed, “It really just comes to the competition that we play against each week. Whoever we are going to play, it’s going to be a tough game, and that helps me for the future because that helps us go through whatever we are going to go through while in college.” He continued, “Not the same thing size-wise, but it’s just mentally and physically how we have to prepare in high school, and that translates to college.”

Who helped him with his decision to go to Arizona? “A lot of people told me what I should do and what I shouldn’t do, but I just made my own decision. It’s my life, and when you are picking a college, you’ve got to be selfish.”

Khalil’s high school coaches are getting their athletes ready for college, “I think they would plan the week like they do in college. We do a lot of drills like they do in college practices the way we practice. I would think it’s the same thing.”

La Times Sports Section – Khalil Tate story – Shereen Rayan 9-20-15

Freshman football players who arrived in Tucson this summer explained the biggest difference between High Scool practice and college practice; in college everything is faster. I asked Khalil if he was ready, “Most definitely, the way they do everything, in the classrooms, at meetings on the field, it just translates to everything.” He’s looking forward to getting in the “fast” mode, “I am practicing that now.”

I wondered if he ever asks his high school coaches to change things or discusses what he wants more out of practice, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” Tate listens to his coaches; that’s a great sign for the future.

Khalil’s family is very close. His family comes to every game, both grandmothers, parents, friends, and now me.  I fit right in, it’s hard not to, they’re so sweet and fun. His nickname in the stands is, ‘KT.’

Khalil’s grandmother, which he calls Uma, taught him a lot growing up, in fact, she was the one who started teaching him about football. “She taught me really how to play football to be honest when I was young. When she was a teenager and then in her thirties and forties, she played sports all the time. She played baseball, basketball, tennis; she did every sport she could think of, so that helps when you have somebody like that who was pushing you and telling you what to do.”

She grew up in California and went to Compton Centennial High school located in Compton, California. “A lot of people don’t know that she taught me how to put my hands on it [the football] and then how to throw the ball.” Wow! I want to be a grandma like that someday; I hold a candle to her as does her whole family. Uma has miraculously survived two bouts of Breast Cancer. Lesli Tate took her mother into her home with her husband and two boys to take care of her post-surgery. The boys gave her lots of love to help her through the whole ordeal.

It’s no wonder Uma is an inspiration to Khalil and her family.

Khalil thinks his folks Brian and Lesli Tate do an excellent job with him. “They are hands-off about 50% of the time,” he said, “really my dad just tells me, ‘let it come, don’t force anything, just let everything happen the way it’s going to happen.’ They give me enough space to breathe.”

Tate is the youngest son in his family; his older brother plays wide receiver for Hiram College in Ohio. “My brother, he’s three years older than me, Akili is his name. We talk all the time, all the time, even though he’s three hours ahead after the games we still talk,” explained Khalil. Akili studies Communications.

Who is he going to miss the most from Serra HS? “I think I will miss almost everyone I’m close too.” Khalil scored another two rushing touchdowns last weekend, here are some highlights from his game against Loyola High School in Downtown Los Angeles:

Khalil wanted to make sure someone very special wasn’t left out of this conversation, “I will miss my Coach Gary Bass, he was at that game last night. He’s my pop-warner coach, we talk all the time. He still coaches the team I used to play for, the Inglewood Jets, Junior All-Americans. I go up there and talk to the players when I have time. We talk about more than just football; we talk about everything!”

Khalil credits his quarterback skills to what he learned from his first sport, basketball. Tate played for coach Steve Moore in Gardena in Junior High School. “Basketball was my first sport. I played point guard,” he broke it down, “I distributed the ball a lot. That helped a lot and the skills translated to football, most definitely. If you can see someone open on the basketball court, seeing someone on the football court is easier. It helped a lot.”

He already knows what he wants to major in at Arizona, “Global studies. I’m interested in what’s going on in the world. Not a 100% into politics right now, but 70%, I don’t know who I would vote for right now, but yes I am a Democrat.”

Breaking news, you will only read this here, “I am ambidextrous,” said Tate, “I write with my left hand and eat with my left hand. So basically I do everything with my left hand, but I play with my right hand. I first started shooting a basketball with my left, but then my dad said ‘shoot with your right,’ so now I play with my right.” He even throws up his Wildcat hand sign with his left.

He probably can carry the ball in both hands as well. Ambidextrous folks are in the one percent. According to Adrian Crezo of MentalFloss.com, ‘Being able to use both hands with (almost) equal ease can really pay off, especially in sports, arts and music.’

Well, there you have it. Khalil is an open book; what you see is what you get. Sprinkle a little humbleness, with virtue, shake it up with fierceness and hard edge. Top it off with a strong desire to win, a lot of natural ability, no fear, and you have Khalil Tate, your future Arizona Wildcat quarterback who is a scoring machine!

BearDown Khalil!

Next: Arizona Football: Quarterback Situation is To Be Determined