Arizona QB Khalil Tate earns weekly honors, LeBron James’ attention
Oct 9, 2017, 2:19 PM
Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate runs for a touchdown against Colorado in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Maybe he’s not certainly the Arizona Wildcats’ No. 1 quarterback, but Khalil Tate was most certainly the most impressive individual performer in the Pac-12 this week.
The conference named the sophomore the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after he came off the bench for starter Brandon Dawkins to rush for a quarterback record 327 yards on 14 carries, scoring four touchdowns in a win over Colorado. More than 200 of those yards came on his touchdown runs of 58, 28, 47 and 75 yards.
With the performance, Tate was given the Walter Camp Offensive Player of the week award as the best performer in the nation, and CBS Sports gave him its similar weekly honor.
The performance even drew the attention of one of the biggest sports stars in the world.
LeBron James liked an Instagram post of Tate’s rushing highlights and commented “Sheesh!!!!” along with the eyes, running man and cloud emojis.
LeBron approved of that performance by @KhalilDTN 👀#BearDown pic.twitter.com/ZIs5I4GYXt
— Tyler McCoy (@NotTylerMcCoy) October 9, 2017
Additionally to his eye-popping rushing totals, Tate did some traditional quarterbacking, completing 12-of-13 passes for 154 yards and another touchdown.
He joined Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch as the second quarterback to rush for more than 300 yards and pass for at least 150 in a game.
