Arizona football's star quarterback, Khalil Tate, spoke with the media for the first time since before the USC game Wednesday morning. Tate is ranked 3rd in ESPN's Heisman race, behind only Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield and Stanford's Bryce Love.
No Wildcat has finished higher than 9th in the Heisman race...that was Scooby Wright in 2014. Tate was asked if he ever though about winning a Heisman one day saying "that's more materialistic, I've never been a materialistic person so it's a great honor, but it's not my main goal right now. My main goal is to win the rest of the games for this season. I've never really dreamed about it, I've been like the type to just keep my team winning and the accolades that come with the team winning are an honor."
Tate has maintained from the beginning, when he took over for Brandon Dawkins on October 7th at Colorado, that he isn't in to the hype. And now with "the big cat", as Arizona athletics refers to him as, even an invitation to New York in December is less important than finishing out the season with wins.
Tate said he used to play the NCAA video game growing up, which isn't around anymore. And that's the closest he's come to a Heisman. But he played himself as a quarterback in that game.
He's as competitive an athlete you'll see on the football field, saying he was emotional after the loss at USC because he hates to lose so much. "I feel like most people grow up not wanting to be a failure...I feel like if you have a dog at home, and the dog passes away, I feel like you would cry. Whenever I lose, I take it to heart."
Arizona plays Oregon on Saturday at 5:00pm, Tucson time. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.
