Tate's wildly successful high school career of course brought college scholarship offers โ for both baseball and football.ย
Tate verbally committed to North Carolina during an in-home visit with then-UNC football coach Butch Davis on Dec. 3, 2008.ย
He planned to play baseball and football for the Tar Heels.ย North Carolina recruited Tate as a quarterback, although he also played safety, cornerback, wide receiver and running back in high school. ย
Tate picked UNC over Alabama, Michigan, USC and others despite never having visited the Heels' campus.ย
"I tried to look at both sides — football and baseball," Tate told Scout.com in 2008. "Obviously, the football program is coming up with Coach Davis being a good coach. He's really building the football program up. They obviously have a really good baseball team being in the College World Series. (UNC) offers a good opportunity in both sports."
At the time he committed, Tate was considered a likely top pick in the 2009 MLB Draft. He said at the time that college was still very much a part of his plans.ย
The draft is "really not something that I'm trying to focus on at all," Tate told Scout.com when asked about the possibility of going pro. "I'm just trying to focus on the visit (to UNC), and focus on my senior baseball season."
