Donavan Tate no longer has the burden of great expectations that overwhelmed him at times.
The Arizona Wildcats freshman quarterback with the unique backstory still has responsibilities, of course. Four of them are back home in Cartersville, Georgia: wife Kensey and kids Nevaeh (3), Ivory (20 months) and Donavan Jr. (2 months).
Tate is eager to bring them to Tucson, but he’s been a little busy lately. The former No. 3 pick in the MLB draft is trying to remember how to play football again after a nine-year hiatus spent toiling in the minor leagues and trying to figure out his life.
No matter how it turns out, though, he wants to enjoy this experience. So far, despite myriad challenges and his family being so far away, he’s having fun.
“I think it’s just because I have a different perspective on things now,” Tate said Saturday during Arizona’s media day, the first time he has met with reporters since joining the Wildcats as a walk-on this summer. “What I’ve been through, the age that I am, having the ups and the downs.”
A two-sport superstar in high school, Tate signed with the San Diego Padres for more than $6 million. He never made it past high-A ball, battling injuries and addictions to alcohol and drugs.
At 26, with baseball in the rearview mirror, he decided to give football another run. Tate trained with his former high school coach, Frank Barden, who implored him to reach out to the coaches who had recruited him years ago.
One of them happened to be current UA coach Rich Rodriguez, who was looking to improve the depth and competition at quarterback. The Padres would pay Tate’s college expenses, so he wouldn’t cost a scholarship. Tate was deemed a risk worth taking.
He quickly impressed coaches and teammates with his earnestness, work ethic and curiosity. Tate often will watch film with Rodriguez’s son, fellow freshman quarterback Rhett Rodriguez, after practice.
“We just talk ball together, and I think it’s been really helpful for both of us,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a real level-headed guy. Every day he tries to work on something new that maybe he struggled with the last practice.”
Tate sat down with the Star to talk about where he’s been and where he’s headed. Here is a portion of that conversation:
How did this opportunity come about?
A: “I was done playing baseball about this time last year. I had a lot of injuries. I had a lot of off-the-field stuff. A compilation of a lot of stuff going on. Some things self-inflicted, some things not self-inflicted. I didn’t have the drive to want to do it (play baseball) anymore. I was like, ‘If I don’t have that, what else do I have?’
“The first few months, I was just enjoying being a dad to my kids, getting to spend some time in their lives, some stuff I had missed out on. And then it got to be January. I was sitting back and (wondering), ‘What direction am I going to go? I can’t just sit around and do nothing forever.’ I just felt like I had a drive in my heart to go play football again.
“Fortunately enough, I still had Coach Rodriguez’s number. Got in touch with him. He recruited me when he was at the University of Michigan. I was like, ‘I can still play a little bit. I still want to give this thing a shot.’ I felt very blessed to have that opportunity — for someone to still believe in me and give me a shot to do what I love.”
Did you feel rusty when you started playing again, or did it all come back to you pretty quickly?
A: “Kind of 50/50. There’s a lot of things that go into playing quarterback. I knew that road was going to be uphill and there was a lot I had to learn. It’s not even necessarily learning the playbook we have at Arizona, it’s just learning the game again. Learning what defenses are, what this situation is, what we’re going to do here, what we’re going to try to accomplish in a game. But it’s fun. It’s a lot of fun.”
You sound like someone who’s appreciative of the opportunity you have.
A: “For sure. Coming out of high school, I took a lot of things for granted. A lot of careless decisions. A lot of bumps in the road that I had to endure, that I had to kind of deal with myself. I don’t want to get too caught up in looking (ahead). ‘Where do you see yourself? Do you see yourself in the NFL, doing this, doing that?’ I just want to enjoy the process and enjoy the moment that I’m in right now. Just try to build from that every day and become a better person and a better teammate than I was yesterday.”
Where have you made the most progress so far?
A: “I think learning our side of plays, offensive plays. At first, when you first look at the playbook and start having installs and meetings, you’re like, ‘Wow, is this ever going to end? How many plays do we need?’ We have signals and stuff, too. I think I’ve gotten it down better than I thought I was going to. It allows me to free things up and not worry so much what we’re doing, but worry about what the defense is doing to try to stop us.”
Your struggles on and off the field have been well-documented. What are the lessons you take from those experiences?
A: “There’s a lot. We could talk about this all day. Like I said earlier, not taking things for granted. When I was 18, I thought I had it figured out. But I had no idea what the world was and what life was.
“(In terms of) sobriety, it was something I struggled with. I don’t think it ever ends, but it’s (being) able to accept where you’re at, what you are and what you’re doing as a person. I’m able to see that more now versus when I was 18, 19, 20, going to rehab for alcohol and for other things. It wasn’t necessarily something I felt like I needed to take control of. It was like, ‘Oh yeah, everything will be fine.’
“But now understanding that I have a wife and kids that I’m responsible for, and I can’t let those things get out of hand. I can’t let the mistakes I’ve made jeopardize the people in my life anymore. I have to look at myself in the mirror and be accountable.”
