Arizona’s Tate not in top 10, ASU’s Harry left out of ESPN’s top 50

The 2017-18 season was a tough one for Pac-12 athletics.

With only one bowl game win and all three of the tournament participants eliminated in the first weekend, the conference was a massive disappointment.

The college football season is less than a month away from kicking off, and for both major Arizona universities they enter the season without much national spotlight.

Arizona’s junior quarterback Khalil Tate excelled in the month of October as his name burst onto the national scene with his dynamic elusiveness that gave opposing defenses nightmares.

Tate enters the season ranked as the No. 19 best college football player in the country, according to ESPN.

Arguably the most exciting player to watch in the country, Tate enters the season as a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender under new head coach Kevin Sumlin. Though he’s known more as a runner, Tate’s ability as a passer should not get overlooked — he throws one of the best deep balls in the country.

Others at ESPN believe that this ranking of Tate is way too low.

Jake Trotter thinks the Wildcats’ quarterback isn’t receiving enough credit for his talents.

Despite losing Josh Rosen and Sam Darnold, the Pac-12 is quietly loaded at quarterback again. Yet the headliner of that group — Arizona’s Khalil Tate — is ranked behind seven other quarterbacks on the top 50, including Oregon’s Justin Herbert and Washington’s Jake Browning. Tate, who rushed for more than 300 yards in a game last year  and passed for more than 300 in another, should be on everyone’s preseason Heisman short list, which automatically should have him ranked higher.

Tate completed 62.9 percent of his passes for 14 throwing touchdowns and 1,411 rushing yards with 12 rushing touchdowns.

And while Tate barely cracked the top 20, Arizona State’s N’Keal Harry was left out completely.

Kyle Bonagura believes that Harry was wrongfully snubbed from the list.

Harry arrived at Arizona State as the No. 1-ranked wide receiver in the Class of 2016 and has lived up to that lofty billing in two seasons for the Sun Devils, catching 140 passes for 1,801 yards and 13 touchdowns. If Harry played for a more high-profile program, he might have landed somewhere in the top 15. He’s that type of talent.

Both ASU and Arizona enter the football season with new coaches and tempered expectations.

Neither program has performed especially well the last few seasons, but both feature talented players that create a fair share of story lines.

As for the present, both Tate and Harry are expected to have big seasons for their teams.