Tate biding time in CFL
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By Eric Page | Thursday, April 17, 2008 |
Former Iowa quarterback Drew Tate spent last year on the practice squad for the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders. Buy this Photo
Drew Tate hasn’t played in a meaningful game since the 2006 Alamo Bowl.
But Iowa’s No. 2 all-time leading passer still is focused on a career in professional football.
Tate, who spent last season on the practice squad of the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, will get a chance to compete for the starting job when the defending Grey Cup
champions open training camp in May.
The Roughriders traded starter and CFL outstanding player Kerry Joseph to the Toronto Argonauts in a salary-cap move last month, leaving Tate and three others to vie for the position next season.
In Iowa City, working out and finishing his final two classes toward a degree in health and sports studies, Tate said taking over as the starter might be a long shot but that he is right in the mix at No. 2. He is under contract in the CFL through next season.
“I’m a CFL player. That’s my job,” Tate said. “I’d like to be the starter and do everything I can to help our team win. If later on the opportunity presents itself to come back here and get into an NFL camp then that’s definitely an option, too. But right now I’m just looking forward to going back to Canada in May.”
Tate, who went to training camp with the St. Louis Rams last summer, threw in front of NFL scouts at Iowa’s March 24 pro day. But he wasn’t hoping to attract attention.
“I had to throw for the running backs because they didn’t have anyone to throw to them,” Tate said.
He’s been hanging around the Hawkeyes’ spring practices but said there was nothing too much to report.
“It’s spring. Every year it’s the same,” he said. “You’ve got holes to fill. You’ve got new guys coming in. Most of the young guys are trying to learn Iowa’s system because all they’ve been running is the opponents’ stuff on the scout team.”
At this point, Tate is concentrating more on his game than that of his alma mater.
The knock on him always has been and always will be his size — he’s generously listed at 6-foot on the Roughriders’ Web site. But his slight stature never slowed him at Iowa, where he completed 61 percent of his passes for 8,292 yards and 61 touchdowns as only the fourth Hawkeye to start three seasons under center.
As it was for another undersized mobile quarterback, Doug Flutie, the CFL game might be better suited for Tate’s skill set than the NFL. The Canadian league plays 12 on 12 with only three downs on a field that is wider and longer than what is played on in the States, which puts an even greater value on mobile, accurate passers.
So, for now, Tate is happy playing north of the border. And he isn’t going to try to convince anyone he’s tall enough to be an effective pro.
He’s just going to let his record speak for itself.
“I’ve just got to play. Just play,” Tate said. “If I can be successful in the CFL, then I would think I would hopefully get a shot to make it in the NFL. But the whole NFL deal, I’m not really worried about that right now. I’m just trying to do my job the best I can.”
Eric Page can be contacted at (563) 383-2277 or epage@qctimes.com. For more on the Hawkeyes, log on to Hawkmania.com.
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