ARIZONA FOOTBALL

Arizona football to add QB Donavan Tate, former 3rd overall MLB draft pick

May 3, 2017, 9:00 PM | Updated: 9:13 pm

Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez before an NCAA college football game against Stanford, Saturday, ...

Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez before an NCAA college football game against Stanford, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

The Arizona Wildcats are adding another name to their starting quarterback competition, and it’s a player who is eight years removed from his football career. Donavan Tate, the third overall pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, will join Rich Rodriguez’s team as a 26-year-old freshman.

Rodriguez announced the addition of a former baseball player at an event Wednesday night, and the Arizona Daily Star’s Michael Lev reported it was, in fact, Tate, the former San Diego Padres prospect.

In 2009, Tate was ranked as the 89th-best football prospect as a quarterback out of Cartersville High School in Cartersville, Ga., and committed to attend North Carolina before turning pro as a baseball player.

In six minor league seasons, Tate never advanced past high-A ball and slashed .226/.331/.321 over his career.

He struggled with injuries, having only appeared in 40 or more games twice in his six minor-league campaigns.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound outfielder also dealt with a drug-related suspension and admitted to drug addiction.

Lev reports Tate will be considered a walk-on and his tuition will be paid by the Padres. He will be in competition with junior Brandon Dawkins, sophomore Khalil Tate and freshmen K’hari Lane and Rhett Rodriguez for Arizona’s starting quarterback job.

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