Khalil Tate’s stellar college debut did not surprise Zona Zealots

Passing

Tate went five for nine for 72 yards and two TD’s; a 31-yard TD to Shun Brown for Browns 2nd TD and a 13-yard TD to Jr. Cam Denson his first offensive TD.

Tate had folks concerned about his passing skills coming into college because of his reported High School play stats. Take it from us; the dropped passes were not always Khalil’s fault.

Frequently, he placed the ball perfectly, and his receivers dropped the passes at least 50 percent of the time. Because of this, Tate was forced to run the ball sometimes, in order to win games.

In the Rose Bowl this past weekend, Tate was living his dream! He visualized becoming a college quarterback and playing when he was 17. This is why he graduated high school a semester early, to get to Tucson and compete in Spring Practice. He wanted to be ready to go. Look at this beautiful pass to Shun Brown (his second of the season) against UCLA care of ESPN:

At Open Practice before the season, Tate threw the longest pass of all of the QB’s who competed (Note: Anu was resting an injury and wasn’t able to compete), his pass went 72 yards!

Here’s what he looked like on a few key plays in college which closely resemble his high school style care of KVOA’s Ari Alexander.

Rushing

Tate averaged 5.3 yards per carry, ending up accumulating the most rushing yards on the Wildcats, totaling 79 yards on 15 carries.

Let’s just put this out there; Tate can run. Sometimes, since he prefers to run, he is cautioned by coaches to be patient.

We saw Khalil escape so many tackles in High School that it spun our heads around. Against UCLA, Khalil was able to elude defenders, slipping through the Bruins’ defense with ease at times. He only played for less than one half and ended up at the top of the stack of running backs.

Khalil also showed off his power, and willingness for contact, bowling over defenders. Twitter reacted accordingly:

Second on the list was TJ or Tyrell Johnson who came in totaling 77 yards on 16 carries.

Note: 17 out of 24 points scored were made when Tate was playing

Future Arizona QB’s, Class of 2017

Some fans are really looking forward to Braxton Burmeister to come to Tucson next season and rightly so; he is an exciting athlete. Burmeister may need some more time to start at quarterback than Tate if you take into consideration the difference in competition he plays against.

Although his stats are impressive, he plays for La Jolla Country Day HS in the CIF San Diego Section which has 98 teams. The competition he plays against is not necessarily the same caliber as the Southern Section.

That said, Arizona will need to fill up the depth chart for the quarterback position, and Burmeister should fit right in. You can add to the list Rhett Rodriguez, Coach Rod’s son.

Also excited to play for Arizona is local Quarterback (mostly listed as an athlete on recruiting boards across the internet), Drew Dixon. Dixon is said to be practicing to play wide receiver at Arizona, but if Coach Rod ever found himself in a bind, Dixon could be a possible emergency QB.

Must Read: Arizona Football: The life of a true freshman ain’t easy, especially for a Quarterback

Coach Rod is going to be asked a million questions this week about the two things he despises talking about, starting quarterbacks and injuries. Can you blame him? It’s going to be both interesting and excruciating. Rodriguez started the week with humor, especially when it came to the special team’s play, so that’s positive.

Dawkins, Tate, and Solomon are all worthy QB candidates when healthy and playing with no fear and not injured. Let the quarterback controversy continue!