Golden Tate Commits to Notre Dame
(UHND.com) – Notre Dame got its 13th commitment early on Tuesday in the form of Ian Williams and didn’t need to wait too long for its 14th when Golden Tate committed to the Irish as well. Tate, a talented wide receiver/running back prospect out of Tennessee picked Notre Dame over Vanderbilt.
Tate (6’0”, 180, 4.4) is a wide receiver with a lot of speed who can challenge for playing time the return game early on in his career. As a receiver, Tate might need some work on the intricacies of the wide receiver position such as route running after playing a mix of running back and wide receiver in high school.
Tate brings a lot of elusiveness and athletic ability to the Irish offense. His pure athletic ability makes him very dangerous in open space with the ball in his hands. He can make sharp cuts and can use his speed to take short passes the distance.
It’s not completely known if Tate will be used primarily at receiver, or if Weis will try the Tennessee native out at running back as well. Tate ran for 1,027 yards on 137 carries (7.5 yards/carry) out of the running back position for his John Paul II High School team.
Recently Tate was named the Mr. Football Division II A/AA for Tennessee. Tate won the award over a couple of other Notre Dame prospects – Chris Donald and Harrison Smith. The three Tennessee natives are all very high on Notre Dame’s priority list this year.
Tate likely ends Notre Dame’s wide receiver recruiting for the year joining Greg Little and Duval Kamara as current Irish commitments. All three receivers are fairly different receivers and they compliment each other very well. Kamara is a huge target with good speed, Little is a phenomenal athlete with good size and speed, and Tate is a straight up deep threat for the Notre Dame offense.
Some people may be concerned that Tate’s other finalist was Vanderbilt since the Irish have not had many recruiting battles with schools like Vanderbilt since Weis has taken over, but Irish fans need not worry – Tate is a big recruit for the Irish. He has the kind of speed and athleticism that the Irish have lacked over the past several years and can be a very dangerous weapon in Weis’s offense.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
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