Arizona Football: Khalil Tate lands on Cover of Sports Illustrated

As we approach the 2018 Arizona Football season, the hype for Khalil Tate continues as the junior quarterback lands on Sports Illustrated cover!

It’s Khalil Time! The hype for a potential Heisman season starts now, and Arizona Football should be eating this publicity up!

The junior quarterback who exploded on scene last season, enters 2018 with plenty of hype, and rightfully so. It’s all old news by now, but as we all recall, Khalil Tate took control of the reigns in week five of the season against Colorado last year, and never looked back.

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Following his stellar game against the Buffaloes, Tate would win the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors, en route to winning three other, consecutive Offensive Player of the Week Awards!

So just how good was Tate last season? In the 11 games Tate appeared in (eight of which he started), he totaled 1,591 yards passing with 14 touchdowns to just nine interceptions. Additionally, he had over 1,400 yards rushing with 12 touchdowns.

Heading into 2018, Tate has been drawing a lot of early praise and rightfully so. First off, he will have a full season to showcase his skill set, and with him, will be a number of weapons in the backfield, and a solid coaching staff to go along with that as well.

So the sky is certainly the limit for the young Tate to say the least. Given those reasons, it is clear why others beyond us Arizona fans, can see the hype.

So much, that that is why Sports Illustrated featured the Arizona quarterback on their cover just days ago!

While winning the Heisman would be the mecca for any college football player, we do have to realize a few things have to go right for the Wildcats as well. No doubt, the attention is great, and perhaps the unthinkable could happen.

Arizona will have to win a lot this season, and I mean a lot. Here are the last few Heisman winners, and their respective records the year they won it. Four out of the five were quarterbacks.

2017- QB Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma 12-2)

2016- QB Lamar Jackson (Louisville 9-4)

2015- RB Derrick Henry (Alabama 14-1)

2014- QB Marcus Mariota (Oregon 13-2)

2013- QB Jameis Winston (Florida State 14-0)

Generally speaking, most of the players who win it, come from a team who are in the College Football Playoff or have double-digit wins. Do the Wildcats and Tate win nine-to-ten games or more? We’ll see…

We went to the store to find our copy of the magazine:

Nonetheless, it is great to see Tate and Arizona Football getting some much deserved and needed media attention! We’re hoping for a huge season, and can’t wait to see it! Bear Down, Arizona!