Arizona’s Tate is Maxwell Award semifinalist, wins fourth Pac-12 honor

Arizona Wildcats quarterback Khalil Tate wasn’t among the players on the Maxwell Award watch list to begin the year, but six appearances and three starts into the 2017 season, he’s been named a semifinalist.

The sophomore is among 18 players named to the list released by the Maxwell Football Club National Selection Committee. Voting for three finalists for college football’s player of the year will begin on Tuesday and runs through Nov. 19.

The finalists will be named Nov. 20.

Tate was also named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week.

For the first time in Pac-12 history, Tate won the weekly player of the week honor for the fourth time in a row after he totaled 421 yards of offense and three touchdowns. Tate averaged 14.03 yards per play — 13 rushing and 17 passing plays — a school record for a minimum of 25 attempts.

Tate has rushed for 926 yards in six appearances, and most of that has come after he took over for injured starting quarterback Brandon Dawkins against Colorado on Oct. 7. He set a college quarterback rushing record that game and after a Saturday win over Washington State has the Wildcats ranked thanks to his NCAA-leading yards-per-rush average, among other things.

Arizona is 4-0 in the last four games since Tate took over for Dawkins. Tate has averaged more than 13 yards per carry and has seven touchdown runs of more than 40 yards.

He’s also completed 69 percent of his passes while throwing for 784 yards and six touchdowns to three interceptions.

Joining the Arizona quarterback on the list out of the Pac-12 are Stanford running back Bryce Love, Oregon running back Royce Freeman and USC quarterback Sam Darnold.

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