Arizona Football: Khalil Tate completes first semester ready for summer

Arizona Football quarterback Khalil Tate took an impressive road to the University of Arizona, landing in Tucson a semester early to prepare for his first semester with his new team.

Khalil Tate officially graduated a semester earlier than his Serra High School classmates so he could get a head start on his college football career at the U of A. Tate officially walked in his High School graduation in Gardena this week. The school does a fantastic job of celebrating their seniors with Senior Days, a Convocation, which includes a service, singing, and awards ceremonies.

Serra produced so many future college athletes and scholars, according to Serra’s graduation program, the 2016 class had 119 students. Of the 119, 57 of them were listed as earning academic/athletic scholarships totaling $5.5 million!

Tate’s

high school stats

are extremely impressive considering he started for two seasons and played for part of a third:

• 3,543 passing
• 36 passing touchdowns
• 222 pass completions
• 3,625 yards rushing
• 46 rushing touchdowns

Included the stats above is a game against crosstown rival Narbonne High School where he scored six touchdowns and racked up 490 yards. The other Wildcat in the game, Devaughn Cooper scored four touchdowns himself and helped his Narbonne team to a CIF Divisional Championship and eventually CIF State Championship. The two of them combined for ten touchdowns and are both looking forward to connecting on the field on the same team this fall.

As a heart-warming graduation gift, Khalil’s older brother, Akili Tate, who is a senior wide receiver for Hiram College and studying film, produced this comprehensive documentary of Khalil’s high school football career. It’s amazing how many touchdowns he scored!

Garnering praises from his Quarterback Coach Rod Smith in the spring, it seems Tate is excelling nicely, “Super excited about Khalil, you know he’s got a world of talent, man. The kids in…a poop storm mentally trying to figure it all out, the kids working his tail off.” Coach Smith had more to say about Khalil’s drive, “He’s working his tail off, and he is a world-class competitor, the thing I like about Khalil is, it’s important to him, and he’s going to do whatever it takes to get this thing.”

Here’s a sample of what he’s been up too with his new QB coach Smith:

During the Wildcats open practice, what Coach Rodriguez has replaced the annual Spring Game with, Khalil took part in a quarterback contest to see how far each QB could pass a ball. Tate won the pass competition with a 72-yard pass, in second was a plain-clothed Jerrard Randal with a 67-yard pass, Dawkins came in third with a 64-yard pass, and last Anthony Medina with a 53-yard pass. Anu Solomon sat out to nurse a slight injury.

The Quarterback competition is going to be fierce for this upcoming season with redshirt junior Anu Solomon, redshirt sophomore Brandon Dawkins, and Freshman Khalil Tate. Dawkins is feeling very confident and is feeling very good about his chances. Khalil is a freshman, so we didn’t get his thoughts, but Coach Rod has two dual-threat QB’s in Dawkins and Tate and a seasoned college football player in Solomon.

Related Story: Arizona Football: Dawkins and Tate Impress in Open Practice

It hasn’t all been all work for Khalil; he’s had some fun too, hauling footballs from the stands into trash cans.

Recently ABC in Los Angeles congratulated Khalil on the nomination he received for the inaugural SoCal Prep Legends Award for Best Individual Performance. The award will be announced on June 10th after game 4 of the NBA Finals. According to the SPCL website, “The inaugural SoCal Prep Legends Awards show will recognize the best high school athletes in Southern California and establish a High School Sports Hall of Fame to honor the great athletes of the past.”

Considering the five times he was highlighted in Fred Roggin’s spotlight, “Roggin’s Hero’s” which airs Sunday nights after the last NFL Game during football season, it’s plain to see why he would be up for this award.

The class of 2016 Arizona Wildcats football freshmen are moving into the dorms this weekend, a very very hot weekend at 111 degrees.

We’ve heard from Khalil, Jake Colacion and Michael Eletise on their trips to the Dirty T. We have heard from other freshmen as well, DL Justin Holt, drove over to move into his dorm from his family home in Tucson. Zack Rosenblatt added four more names this morning, Chacho Ulloa, Bryson Cain, Jarrius Wallace, and Shawn Poindexter.

Everyone is excited to get going and finally meet all their teammates and and reunite with their coaches.

Summer session is essential for athletes to get ahead of the fall semester, some take their hardest classes so they can concentrate on studying more. In any case, they can feel a little more like true college students, even though they will be working out and learning to hone their skills on the field in moderation as well.

must read: Arizona Football: 2016 Starters Predictions

Hope they are having fun getting to know each other and hanging out inside until the sun goes down. We wish Khalil Tate and his freshman class a smooth transition into college life! BEARDOWN!