Khalil Tate is back in the game playing professional football again in the Canadian Football League for the Edmonton Elks.
For those of you waiting and praying for a chance to be able to watch the phenom dual-threat QB Khalil Tate play again, the time has come. For the rest of you who are still seething about how the Kevin Sumlin coaching staff didn’t comprehend the potential they had in their arsenal and instead of fitting to his skill, forced a system that didn’t work, your time has come.
The opportunity came about as the Elks started their season with three losses (0-3). According to 3DownNation.com, “The Elks pulled starter Taylor Cornelius in their Week 3 loss to the Toronto Argonauts, replacing him with rookie Jarret Doege. The team promptly released backup Kai Locksley after he appeared to express his displeasure at being passed over on the sidelines.”
Enter Tate! The 24-year-old former Wildcat has re-signed with the organization. Tate previously signed with the Elks in March 2023 and appeared in two preseason games for Edmonton before being released in late May.
https://twitter.com/GoElks/status/1638254531527184384?s=20
Tate started his college career as a True Freshman in 2016 and continued playing through 2019. Even though he didn’t appear in every game or even the entirety of a game for the 40 games he did play in, he still earned a whopping 6,318 passing yards, 57 touchdowns, 2,285 yards rushing, and racked up 18 rushing touchdowns.
Don’t be misled, Tate has not slacked off since college, as he has been steadily working on his game, improving his techniques, and keeping in shape by running on the beach, running up and down the Manhattan Beach hills, working with trainers, throwing the ball to Terrell Owens, and practicing on USC’s gridiron.
We’re very excited for Tate, or as some would refer to him, The Big Cat. We reached out to get his sentiment on his signing:
“I’m excited to finally play! This will be my first regular season game experience since my last college game in 2019, so it’s an exciting feeling. Since coming out in 2020 during Covid I just haven’t had a real shot to display my athletic abilities having short NFL stints here and there so I’m excited to be able to get out there and show myself. And to those who have been following me, how much better I’ve gotten since they last saw me play.”
The Ottawa Redblacks (0-2) are next on the Elks’ schedule (0-3) on Friday, June 30 at 4:30 p.m. PDT/7:30 p.m. EDT.
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