An up-and-down 13 months for Khalil Tate could end with a transfer

It wasn’t supposed to go like this for Khalil Tate. He wasn’t supposed to be missing a bowl game after a season marred by injuries, confusing play-calling, and missed expectations.

But let’s go back to the beginning to really drive home how weird this ride has been.

At the time, Brandon Dawkins was the starter. He got shaken up on the first drive of the game against Colorado. Tate came in in relief and did this:

The sophomore ran for 327 yards and four touchdowns — covering 58, 28, 47 and 75 yards — on a scant 14 carries in Arizona’s 45-42 victory in Boulder. He broke the single-game FBS rushing record for a quarterback, and his 481 yards of total offense were the fifth most in UA history.

He kept rolling in the next game against UCLA, where he rushed for 230 yards in a game in which he was technically billed as the “co-starter.” That designation wouldn’t last long.

By the end of the month, Arizona had won more games in just October (four) than it did in the entire 2016 season.

Tate’s Wildcats didn’t beat USC, but by this time it was a huge storyline that he wasn’t playing for the Trojans.

Tate played high-school ball for Junipero Serra, a southern California powerhouse. He was offered a scholarship by USC, with new coach Helton upgrading the offer from a chance to play WR to a chance to play QB.

That USC game was sorta the beginning of the end for the honeymoon. He’d have a great game the next week against Oregon State, but would get shut down the rest of the regular season. But he was still a first-year starter, and he’d showed more than enough promise.

Tate did remind us that the magic was still there during his biggest passing day of the season against Purdue in the bowl game. Arizona had nowhere to go but up as a transcendent-looking QB in a scheme under Rich Rodriguez in what seemed like a perfect schematic union.

Welp.

After Rodriguez was fired, Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo (one of the best triple option coaches in the game) was rumored for the gig. Tate had some thoughts about this:

A couple days later, Arizona hired Kevin Sumlin.

There was still little reason to assume that this would go south, due to Sumlin’s background as an offensive coach who got the best out of another mobile QB, Johnny Manziel.

During spring practice, Tate wasn’t made available to even local media, besides in a scrum after the spring game.

SB Nation also had an interview request declined for Tate (and Sumlin). It was an interesting choice to hide UA’s star — and the rest of the team — during the spring.

The offseason hype train began in earnest with even NFL types weighing in. NFL.com ranked him the No. 7 player to watch in the upcoming season. He made Athlon’s All-American team as well.

It appeared Tate’s January tweet actually prompted Arizona to reconsider its coaching decision?

Per reports in January, the tweet, along with the publicity it received, spooked Arizona out of pursuing Navy’s head coach any further.

“I knew exactly what I was doing when I tweeted that out,” Tate has since told Bleacher Report. “I don’t do Twitter. When I tweet something, I download the app, tweet, then delete the app from my phone. So when I tweet, it’s important.”

While Tate says he meant no disrespect toward Niumatalolo, and calls him a “great coach,” he adds that he was also speaking for his teammates who didn’t want to run the triple offense either with his tweet.

Hello Heisman?

Things did not get off to a good start. BYU beat em up. Houston was up 21-0 before Arizona could even blink, and a terrible Oregon State held him to one of his worst games. At this point, there were serious questions about if Arizona was using Tate the right way. His legs weren’t even being utilized.

He played fine against USC on the 29th, but something was clearly wrong (emphasis ours).

Tate was noticeably limping on several occasions during Saturday’s 24-20 home loss to USC. He ran for a season-best 38 yards on 13 carries but on numerous occasions, when the chance to head upfield was there, he either hesitated or turned toward the sideline.

Sumlin noted after the game Tate wasn’t 100 percent, and it stands to reason that may remain the case for a while, possibly until he’s able to take some time off. Arizona doesn’t have a bye until the second week of November, with five more games in between now and then.

Tate would play two series against Utah before sitting out with a hobbling ankle injury. He’d finally sit out against UCLA.

The final month did see Tate have an impressive passing day in the win over Colorado. But the loss in the Territorial Cup was gutting in the fact that Arizona blew a lead, and played for overtime, then ended up missing a game-winning field goal.

In the aftermath, Tate aired some serious frustration.

A couple days later:

While last offseason was one of optimism, this will be one of uncertainty for the entire Arizona program. The early returns on the Sumlin experiment were not good.

Because Tate didn’t meet expectations in 2018 — and it’s certainly not all his fault — his story has been on an odd roller coaster. We can all hope 2019 is closer to the promise shown in 2017.