Khalil Tate (born October 23, 1998) is an American

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He was most recently a member of the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). After playing

at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, he signed with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2020. Tate has also been a member of the

Edmonton Elks The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

Early years

Tate attended Junípero Serra High School in

Gardena, California Gardena is a city located in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 58,829 at the 2010 census, up from 57,746 at the 2000 census. ...

. As a senior, he had over 2,000 passing and 2,000 rushing yards and accounted for 43 touchdowns. Tate was a consensus 4-star recruit and named a top-ten dual threat quarterback by ESPN. On March 16, 2015, Tate committed to play

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

College career

In 2016, at only 17 years old, Tate started his college career as a true freshman at Arizona. He became the first true freshman to start a game at Arizona since Willie Tuitama in 2005. Tate played in seven games and made one start. In his debut against

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, Tate completed five of nine passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 79 yards on 15 carries. Two weeks later he made his first career start against

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and completed seven of 18 passes for 58 yards with an interception and added 72 rushing yards and a touchdown. For the season, Tate completed 18 of 45 passes for 243 yards, three touchdowns, three interceptions and rushed for 237 yards over 49 carries with one touchdown. Tate entered his sophomore season in 2017 as the backup to Brandon Dawkins. When Dawkins went down with an injury early against

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

Tate relieved him for the remainder of the game. During the game, he rushed for an FBS quarterback-record 327 yards, breaking the previous record of 321 held by

Jordan Lynch Jordan Lynch (born October 3, 1990) is a former American football quarterback and running back. After playing college football at Northern Illinois, where he was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in 2013, and going undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft, ...

. Following his performance, Tate was awarded the Pac-12 Offensive player of the week and would be named starting quarterback. He would follow up his opening performance with wins over

Cal Cal or CAL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Cal'' (novel), a 1983 novel by Bernard MacLaverty * "Cal" (short story), a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov * ''Cal'' (1984 film), an Irish drama starring John Lynch and Helen Mir ...

, and Washington St. eventually being named Pac-12 Offensive player of the week for four consecutive weeks – setting a conference record. Tate entered his senior season as the full-time starter for the Wildcats. They made their season debut against

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, narrowly losing 38–45. Tate completed 22 of 39 attempts for 361 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions.

Statistics

Awards and honors

* AP Pac-12 Newcomer Player of the Year (2017) * 4× Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week (2017) * All-Pac-12 Academic Honorable Mention (2017) * All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention (2017)

Professional career

Philadelphia Eagles

On April 26, 2020, the

signed Tate as an undrafted free agent with the intention of converting him to wide receiver. He was waived on July 20, 2020. On January 13, 2021, Tate signed a reserve/futures contract with the Eagles. He was waived on June 9, 2021.

Edmonton Elks

On January 18, 2022, Tate signed with the

of the

(CFL). He was released at the start of training camp on May 15, 2022.

Toronto Argonauts

On July 27, 2022, Tate signed with the

of the

. Tate was released by the Argos on August 9, 2022. He did not make an appearance for the Argonauts during the 2022 season.

References

External links

Toronto Argonauts bio

Arizona Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tate, Khalil 1998 births Living people American football quarterbacks American football wide receivers Arizona Wildcats football players Edmonton Elks players Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from Inglewood, California Junípero Serra High School (Gardena, California) alumni Toronto Argonauts players