Golden H. Tate III (born August 2, 1988) is an American football wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Notre Dame, and was recognized as an All-American. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft.
 Tate at Seahawks training camp, 2012 | |||||||||||||
| No. 81 – Seattle Seahawks | |||||||||||||
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| Position: | Wide receiver | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born: | August 2, 1988 Hendersonville, Tennessee | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| College: | Notre Dame | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 2010 / round: 2 / pick: 60 | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
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| Roster status: | Active | ||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of Week 10, 2013 | |||||||||||||
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Early years
Tate was born in Hendersonville, Tennessee. He is the son of Golden Tate, Jr., a former wide receiver at Tennessee State who was the 120th overall pick in the fifth-round of the 1984 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. His brother, Wesley, is a senior running back for Vanderbilt University.[1] He played high school football for Pope John Paul II High School.
Baseball career
Tate was drafted out of high school by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 42nd round of the 2007 amateur draft.[2] Tate did not sign with the Diamondbacks and instead played baseball for the University of Notre Dame. In Tate's freshman year at Notre Dame (2008), he played in 18 games and batted .262 with three doubles and three stolen bases. Tate hit his first home run against Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky in his sophomore year. He finished his sophomore season with a .329 batting average after playing in 55 games.[2] Tate also scored 45 runs his sophomore year which is the third highest by any Notre Dame baseball player.[3]
On June 9, 2010, he was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 50th round (no. 1518 overall) of the 2010 MLB Draft, but did not sign.[4]
Tate has not competed in baseball since 2009, his sophomore season with Notre Dame.[5]
College football career
Tate played football for Notre Dame from 2007 to 2009. In the 2007 season as a freshman, Tate started two games, versus the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans. He totaled six catches for 131 yards and one touchdown and averaged 21.7 yards on 15 kickoff returns for the season.
In the 2008 season as a sophomore, Tate started in 12 regular season games with 52 catches for 903 yards and seven touchdowns for a 17.4 yard per catch average. Tate registered 100-yard games against Michigan, Syracuse, North Carolina, and Pittsburgh during the 2008 regular season, while being tapped First Team All-Independent by Rivals.com. Against the Hawaii Warriors in the Hawaii Bowl, he made six catches for 177 yards and three touchdowns in the 49-21 victory for the Irish, bringing his season total to 58 catches for 1,080 yards (18.6 yard average) with 10 touchdowns.
Following the 2009 season, Tate won the Biletnikoff Award.[6] He was also recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American.
On December 7, 2009, Tate announced that he would forgo his senior year and declared his eligibility for the 2010 NFL Draft.[7]
Professional football career
| Height | Weight | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
199 lb (90 kg) |
4.42 s | 1.51 s | 2.50 s | 4.34 s | 7.12 s | 35 in (0.89 m) |
10 ft 0 in (3.05 m) |
17 reps | |||
| All values from NFL Combine | ||||||||||||
Seattle Seahawks
2010 season
On April 23, 2010, Tate was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the second round (60th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft. On July 28, 2010, Tate signed a four-year deal with the Seahawks worth $3.261 million.[8][9]
2012 season
On August 24 during a week 3 pre-season game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Kansas City, Tate returned one punt 92 yards for a touchdown as the Seahawks won the exhibition game 44-14.[10]
During the replacement referee controversy[11] at the beginning of the 2012 NFL season, the Seahawks won a controversial game against Green Bay in week 3, in which Tate pushed off a defender (Sam Shields) and was ruled to have caught a game-winning touchdown as time expired, despite the fact that Packers' safety M. D. Jennings gained possession of the ball first.[12][13] The following day, the NFL acknowledged that an offensive pass interference penalty should have been called on the play, which would have negated the touchdown and ended the game.[14]
In week 10 against the New York Jets, Tate recorded his first passing touchdown to Sidney Rice on a receiver reverse pass.[15]
2013 season
Tate had a breakout season with the Seahawks in 2013. He made some spectacular plays, notably a one-handed catch against the Atlanta Falcons, that highlighted his athleticism and special abilities. Pete Carroll, the Seahawks coach, said that he would not coach anyone else to do what Tate can do.[16]
Professional statistics
Accurate as of Week 17, 2011
| Regular season | Receiving | Rushing | ||||||||||||||||
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| Season | Team | GP | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Fumble | Lost | |||
| 2010 | Seattle Seahawks | 11 | 0 | 21 | 227 | 10.8 | 52 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2.0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2011 | Seattle Seahawks | 16 | 5 | 35 | 382 | 10.9 | 33 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 2.8 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2012 | Seattle Seahawks | 15 | 15 | 45 | 688 | 15.3 | 51 | 7 | 3 | 20 | 6.7 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Regular season totals | 42 | 20 | 101 | 1.297 | 12.8 | 52 | 10 | 10 | 38 | 3.8 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 1 | ||||
References
- ^ http://www.vucommodores.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/wesley_tate_439571.html
- ^ a b "Golden Tate". thebaseballcube.com.
- ^ NFL Draft – College Baseball 360
- ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=year_round&year_ID=2010&draft_round=50&draft_type=junreg&
- ^ http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?P=Golden-Tate
- ^ "Notre Dame's Golden Tate wins Biletnikoff Award". CNN. December 10, 2009. Retrieved May 3, 2010. [dead link]
- ^ Rosenthal, Gregg. "Tate leaving the Golden Dome, too". profootballtalk.nbcsports.com. December 7, 2009.
- ^ "Seahawks agree to terms with Tate". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. July 28, 2010. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
- ^ "Tate says he and Seahawks have reached deal; team mum". HeraldNet. July 29, 2010. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
- ^ http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2012082456/2012/PRE3/seahawks@chiefs#menu=highlights&tab=analyze
- ^ http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/features/2012/nfl_2012/preseason/don_king_replacement_refs_roger_goodell_and_the_nfl_s_culture_of_lockouts_.html
- ^ http://deadspin.com/5946101?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
- ^ http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2012/09/24/replacement-ref-disaster-in-seattle/70001064/1#.UGE-to1lRcQ
- ^ NFL Statement, September 25, 2012
- ^ 2012 Week 10 Can't Miss Play: Golden Touch
- ^ "Carroll trusts Golden Tate to take chances"