Arizona Football: Khalil Tate makes list for Golden Arm Award

Arizona Football players continue to be named candidates on award watch lists, the latest is the Golden Arm Award for quarterback Khalil Tate.

With the first game of the season in the books, Arizona Football quarterback Khalil Tate added yet another award watch list to his long list of accolades. This time, it was the 2019 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award sponsored by the A. O. Smith Corporation.

The award is given to the top senior, or fourth-year junior quarterback who has or will be graduating with his class. Per the Golden Arm Award website, “In addition to accomplishments on the field, candidates are judged on their character, citizenship, scholastic achievement, teamwork, and leadership qualities.”

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There are 49 total quarterbacks on the 2019 list currently with eight Pac-12 quarterbacks including (last weekends results in brackets []):

• Khalil Tate, University of Arizona [361 yards passing, 3 touchdowns, 108 yards rushing, no sacks]
• K.J. Costello, Stanford University [152 yards passing,1 touchdown, 12 yards rushing]
• Gage Gubrud, Washington State University [52 yards passing on 4/5 passes, 1 touchdown]
• Justin Herbert, University of Oregon [242 yards passing, 1 touchdown, -2 yards rushing]
• Tyler Huntley, University of Utah [106 yards passing, 0 touchdowns, 39 yards rushing]
• Jake Luton, Oregon State University [251 yards passing, 3 touchdowns, 7 yards rushing]
• Steven Montez, University of Colorado [232 yards passing, 2 touchdowns]
• Dillon Sterling-Cole, Arizona State University [Did not play]

Note: Eight of 12 Pac-12 teams have quarterbacks who are juniors or older, most starting for their teams. USC’s sophomore quarterback JT Daniels suffered from a torn ACL and a meniscus tear on opening night after getting sacked. He is out for the season.

Granted Tate threw two interceptions, but one of them was a tip and not his fault. And yes you have to take into consideration their opponents, but still, Tate passed for the most yards, rushed for the most yards and threw the same amount of touchdowns that Luton did.

Let’s look at a few other quarterbacks coming out parties from this weekend. Also on the list is LSU’s transfer from Ohio State, Joe Burrow, who scored five touchdowns and passed for 278 yards.

Former University of Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts who now plays for the University of Oklahoma is also on the list. He was extremely impressive in his first game, ironically against the University of Houston.

Hurts and his Sooners played on Sunday night, and he matched a school record for total rushing yards in the first half of a game with 128 yards. He also went 13-for-15 for 174 yards passing in the first half alone, but his impressive evening wasn’t over there. In the end, Hurts completed 20-for-23 passes for 332 yards, to go along with three touchdown passes, and three touchdowns rushing on 16 carries for 176 yards. Hurts is on a roll.

It’s a long season, but if Tate can keep throwing touchdowns and rushing as he did against Hawaii or better, he has a solid chance to win this award and more. Mostly because the award isn’t just given out for stats but leadership, scholastic achievements and more. Tate showed his leadership and character yesterday supporting fellow Pac-12 quarterback, after reports surfaced of Daniels’ his season-ending injury:

Last season, the award went to a Pac-12 player, as Washington State University quarterback Gardner Minshew, II earned the 2018 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award completing, “433 of 613 passes for a total of 4,477 yards (71% completion rate), throwing for 36 touchdowns with just nine interceptions and a QB rating of 148.4,” according to the Golden Arm website. Should be a fun season! Tate has the skills and potential to do great things in his career in the NCAA and beyond and we are here to witness it all.