Arizona Football: Coach Rodriguez put Khalil Tate in for a spark, he woke up everyone

There is no denying it, when Arizona Football quarterback Khalil Tate played his first series of the game against Houston, he woke up everyone.

I have followed Arizona Football sophomore quarterback Khalil Tate since the beginning of his high school senior season in 2015 at Serra High School in Southern California. The way he entered the game vs. Houston reminded me of the powerhouse QB that Fred Roggin on NBC could not stop talking about or showing highlights of in his Roggin’s Heroes segment.

Tate ‘s playing style will help his O-Line get experience blocking for a legitimate dual-threat QB because the NFL is filled with young dual-threat QB’s. It will help them gain game-time experience to prepare them for the NFL style of play. What we are hearing is that Brandon Dawkins plays more by the book, and Khalil will surprise his O-line. Assuming the coaching staff is looking for by the book at this point in the season, but that might change.

Tate is an exciting playmaker to watch and cheer on. Coach Rich Rodriguez said in his press conference that he put Khalil in the game to add a spark to the offense. Well, it worked for a while, and In his two series, Tate maneuvered across the field gaining positive yards and trucked his defender before his defender could tackle him on his way out-of-bounds. On one pass play, he threw a dart to WR Cedric Peterson for a 14-yard gain. And the fans and sideline erupted! So did I at home in Los Angeles, not going to lie. I also got excited when Dawkins runs the ball, he is so fun to watch!

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Khalil threw a close ball to Shun Brown who appeared to tie it up with the DB, but it was ruled an interception. The good thing is that interception was just that and Houston didn’t score off of it, the bad thing is the timing of the interception as he was marching his team down the field towards a score. Tate was handed the game, he did what he could, and then the game was yanked away from him, so it is hard to blame him too much for a mistake.

Case in point, Sam Darnold, the nations and USC Trojan Heisman Trophy candidate who has graced both Sports Illustrated and ESPN’s cover page in recent months, threw two interceptions against Stanford.

Note: I heard from a Trojan fan just today that USC when posting his stats at the stadium, LEFT OFF the two interceptions. The Trojan way I guess, ha ha.

Even before Khalil even entered the game,, as we heard from fans at the game, Tate was seen on the sidelines and the field during time out’s talking and hitting the helmets of all of his teammates including fellow quarterback Brandon Dawkins. Also on sidelines, at one point, Tate gathered a group of teammates in an arm-linked chain rallying his teammates to keep fighting while Dawkins was in the game.

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The two series Khalil played in are only an example of more to come from our sophomore QB. He has yet to get a chance to start a game and finish it with the new O-Line, time to pass and time to get a chemistry going. But, he is showing signs of leadership, his teammates respond to him, and he did provide a spark even though he couldn’t pull out the score that the team needed to win, he was replaced.

It’s so confusing, yet, we were warned by Coach Rod that he would play whatever quarterback was necessary at the time for the series for the start or the end of the game. I can’t even imagine the pressure that both quarterbacks are going through, but this is what comes with the position, and it will get even tougher in the NFL if they eventually land a job at that level.

Something to consider is loyalty. The senior leadership on the team feel loyal towards Dawkins, and rightly so, he is their leader, they can relate to him maybe more. But the truth is, with this team, there is a ton of youth, and the youth seem to be relating more to Tate possibly. You see him in their snaps on Snapchat, you can see it in their demeanor. That may be the difference down the road when the team is in the Pac-12 trenches. Heck, we heard it is Tate’s tunes playlist that is used at practice.

Tate turned heads during the game, and the media chimed in with their thoughts:

Former Arizona Wildcats chimed in as well:

https://twitter.com/mygameclipceo/status/906892297270321153

And Fans:

The Houston Cougars head coach and key defensive lineman Ed Oliver, who Khalil eluded both commented in the post game presser:

Then Coach Rod laid down the hammer, on the Pac-12 coaches teleconference call confirmed Dawkins is his No. 1 and Tate his No. 2 quarterback for UTEP. So I wouldn’t expect anything different. I would think the coaching staff has spent a lot of time helping Dawkins correct some things in the offseason and they know he is capable.

That said, Michael Lev  of the Arizona Daily Star started a poll on Twitter, here is where the poll stands at this point, after 684 votes, Khalil Tate is at 61%, Dawkins, Rhett Rodriguez, and Donovan Tate split the remaining 39%:

Do you want to know why Khalil had four stars coming to Arizona? He threw with accuracy when he was nine years old. Tate had offers from Utah, USC, UCLA, CAL, Nebraska, and on and on, he just didn’t make a big deal about announcing his decision. He walked into the living room at home and announced to his parents that he was going to Arizona and could his dad please call coach Rod Smith.

For all of you fans of Braxton Burmeister, he is listed as the No. 3 quarterback for Oregon, so do not shed too many tears over that flipped commitment.

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I want to say OUT LOUD that I think Brandon Dawkins is a phenomenal athlete and when he runs the ball, I can’t help shouting, “Go Brandon go!” He is a wonderfully warm and competitive young man who I cannot help but want to be successful. When things are clicking, they are clicking, like when he led the team to the Territorial Cup Victory. All Wildcats are special, especially our two to seven QB’s. Heck, Rich, why don’t you put them both in the game on a play, that would really mess with the opponent!