In one of his first interviews since graduating from the University of Arizona, former Arizona Football Khalil Tate appeared in a podcast with Yogi Roth.
For those interested, Pac-12 Football Sports Broadcaster and writer Yogi Roth started a new series of podcasts about quarterbacks titled, “What does it mean to make it?” His first guest was none other than Arizona Football quarterback, Khalil Tate.
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Tate graduated from the University of Arizona in 2019 and went undrafted after not even being able to participate in a Pro Day, where a lot of players normally have increased chances of being seen and drafted.
He quickly signed with the Philadelphia Eagles after the draft to become a wide receiver, which he embraced, but with COVID-19 struggles, he never even got a chance to practice with the team.
Tate felt that if he had a Pro Day or even got an invitation to the NFL Combine, a team could see he could be a QB. But that didn’t stop Tate who continued to work out and train hard.
He did have a chance to work out for the Arizona Cardinals late last year when Kyler Murray’s suffered a lower leg injury, but that never really materialized into anything.
Well, with the new podcast, it is not surprising that Roth started his series with Tate since he has known him since he was 15 and still in high school. He has followed and continued to follow his career in football today.
A few years ago, Roth told Zona Zealots “Khalil Tate will go down as the best quarterback who ever played at the University of Arizona,” And if you look at Tate’s stats you’ll understand what he meant.
Roth believes Tate has the skills for the pro game, ” I think Khalil is more accurate than he’s given credit for. I mean there’s still growth for sure, to be a traditional pocket passer, to take those drops.” Roth felt he could grow under mentorship since he is still only 22 years old.
A few years ago Roth told Zona Zealots, “Khalil Tate will go down as the best quarterback who ever played at the University of Arizona”
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Roth started the podcast by asking about his journey and started with his younger days at the age of three. Khalil followed in his older brother Akili’s steps playing Pop Warner football for the Inglewood Jets.
Growing up, he watched his brother do drills and play, so he showed up in full gear and mimic’d what the team was doing, and eventually, the coach had him join the drills. That was how he got his confidence, he said, “I could barely talk – it gave me that early confidence.”
The next topic was Mr. Brian and Mrs. Lesli Tate. Mom was always pushing him to do different things and supported him, and his dad, an educator, taught him discipline. “Being thoughtful — my mom told me there was a time and place for everything,” he said, and he always lives in the moment and never even dreamed about playing college football.
Tate spoke about choosing Arizona, especially after USC had just fired then head coach Steve Sarkisian and promoted Clay Helton.
Khalil grew up a UCLA fan since his cousin played there, but while playing for Serra HS, it kind of is the feeder High School to SC.
While at Serra, Tate was considering Texas A&M and Florida State, but he was very familiar with Rich Rodriguez, and when he took a visit to Tucson, he immediately fell in love with the campus. Tate even went on to say that even if he had gotten injured and couldn’t play football anymore, he would still have fun in college.
He loved the jersey’s and he loved the campus, “The campus is super nice,” he said. He also liked Rodriguez’s offense and felt he could fit right in.
In October of his senior year in high school, then just 17, he felt he was immature because “you don’t know anything better”, especially as he entered college. However, he always embraced the moment, even staying prepared and ready while Brandon Dawkins was the quarterback at the time.
As a freshman, if Tate played one snap, he would have lost a year of eligibility, and that was before the NCAA changed the rules. When his sophomore year came around, he felt more confident and ended up being the backup for the first four games.
However, on the heels of a losing season from the year before, Tate was thinking the season may go the same way, however, October 7, 2017 happened, and it was the year that Tate earned the nickname “Mr. October.”
It started with the Colorado game, where he wasn’t projected to start, but merely serve as a backup quarterback. The game was following a bye-week after Tate went home to watch Serra High School play rival Chaminade.
He spoke to his former head coach and Khalil told him, “If they put me in the game, they aren’t going to take me out.” Tate recalled that he was really into the game. The game was sold-out and after a few plays, he was in the zone. Roth called that game.
When Dawkins went down, Tate did not come out. He earned four-straight Pac-12 offensive player of the week awards and set an FBS record rushing record of 327 yards. It had never been done before, “It was rare – that was a real thing, that really happened,” said Tate.
Tate explained that what a lot of people didn’t know about the game was that Colorado’s running back Phillip Lindsay had a career setting 281 yards and three touchdowns as well. So Tate had to keep up for Arizona to win the game. When his coaches told him he broke a record, he was surprised!
Roth later announced the Cal game that went to double-overtime, which was exciting for his wife who came with him on a road trip to witness Tate’s play. “While I was in it , I will say it was like a movie, just because I don’t know anybody personally that had been doing what I had done at that time, more specifically at my school. To be able to bring that level of enjoyment to my school meant a lot.”
The loss to USC that season was a hard-fought game, Tate led the team back, but it wasn’t enough. He felt the team counted on him, and people had high hopes and he just played against the team that his high school teammates played for. People always thought he was going to play for USC so it was super emotional for him, he just wanted to win.
After a solid run his sophomore year, Tate entered his junior season with plenty of hype, even earning a spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated. It shocked him he said, especially as it was published on his parents’ wedding anniversary.
However, all of the hype took a rocky turn for Tate when Rich Rod was let go after the 2017 season. Overall, it was hard for him .
After Rich Rod left, Tate went to Dave Heeke and asked him what was going on in the coaching search. He heard a rumor about the Navy Coach, and naturally, being a player with the Wildcats, he was interested in who the next coach was going to be, so Tate infamously tweeted out the “I didn’t come here to play the triple option.”
He of course deleted it as quickly as he could, but as we all saw, the admin decided not to go after the Navy coach. But as Tate reiterated, he NEVER had a discussion with Heeke about it.
By the time his senior year came around, Khalil’s goal was to finish college and get his degree.
When Tate was off for the NFL season, he realized maybe God was giving him some time off to get to know himself better and to have a break. Although he was upset, he learned he is very dedicated, his identity isn’t just being a football player and now he is more at peace. Most importantly, he can finally watch a football game and enjoy it. We look forward to watching Tate get an opportunity to play in the Pro’s and he will continue to stay in the moment, and so should we.