As he's also a junior, Tate's name is at the forefront of just about any list of underclassmen who may make the jump to the NFL in 2010.
While many people are already putting him into the next draft pool, Tate is taking the same tack as his teammate, quarterback Jimmy Clausen. Right now, the wide receiver's focus is on helping Notre Dame this season, not where he may or may not be next year.
"Right now, I try to think about the team and this season," Tate said. "I'm sure (Irish coach Charlie Weis) and I and my family will address this when the time is appropriate. Right now, I'm playing for Notre Dame."
He may be getting some "pressure" from the outside to make the leap, but it seems as if the person closest to him is applying the most heat to make this his last season at South Bend. Tate said that his mother sends reminders via email of where he stands in the minds of draft pundits.
"I try to tell her, 'I don't want to get those e-mails,'" Tate said. "I want to stay focused on playing ball while I'm here.
"A lot of people ask me, 'Are you really gone after this year? You should leave. You shouldn't leave.' It just goes in one ear and out the other. I really don't care what they say."
Golden please come back for your senior season. The Irish will be loaded next year if Clausen and yourself stay in school. You could challenge for a national championship! That is, if Charlie keeps his job through next year.
@jbron
LOL@national championship...
@jbron
LOL@national championship...
Definitely, ND will not challenge for a national championship next year.
Likely, Clausen & Tate will not be at ND next year.
Possibly, Weiss will not be at ND next year.
(Prediction: If Tate & Clausen both go pro after this season, ND will be sub .500 next year)
1. both golden and jimmy will be back at notre dame next season provided that charlie weis and his staff are still at notre dame, which they will be.
2. in his interview at und.com, jimmy did not mince any words when he stated that, if charlie weis were not at notre dame, jimmy would not be there.
3. the same is true of every other notre dame student athlete and every recruit.
4. all of this media garbage about the jobs of charlie and his staff being at risk is generated, as it has been in prior years by thje same media shills who get paid by other schools to write this fraudulent garbage in an attempt to con recruits and their families into ruining their futures by picking one of the many football factories over notre dame where every student athlete gets a real education and graduates with one or more degrees in real academic disciplines which give them each highly marketable skills.
5. the graduation rates at the so called highly ranked college football powers are around 50%, as opposed to notre dame better than 90% and the rates, available through the ncaa, are greatly inflated at the football factories by degrees in courses which have zero academic content.
6. with very minor exceptions, those recruits who choose the football factories over notre dame end up broke and bankrupt even if they make the nfl since they do not have the educations necessary to protect themselves from the crooked agents and financial advisors who rip them off.
7. as for recruits who choose a football factory over real schools like notre dame and do not make the nfl, they end up, with very few exceptions, with zero educations and zero marketable skills and those 4 and 5 star ratings that they got from rivals and scout end up being worth bupkis.
robertg,
you state a lot of things as facts that are NOT, they are your opinions and misguided ones at that.
1. why would you need to qualify that clausen and tate will be back next year if Weiss returns, if you are quaranteeing Weiss will be back? Although I agree it is likely Weiss will be back (assuming they don't lose the rest of their games), it is very likely Tate will enter the draft as he is likely a Top10 pick at WR (possibly even the top WR), and alythough Claussen won't be the top QB prospect he would be drafted in the top half of the first round. So, why exactly would they return to college? Its not like they have a chance to contend for a NC.
2. And this means what? Thats like Tebow saying he wouldn't be at Florida if not for Myer, or Barkley saying he wouldn't be at USC if not for Carroll. It simply goes without saying. If a kid is not a lifelong fan of a school they choose a school based on the recruiting efforts of the coach! So the fact that he is at ND says he is there because of Weiss.
3. See #2
4. Are you suggesting that billboard placed in South Bend at the beginning of the season was paid for by the media and not a ND alumni association? Furthermore are you suggesting that ND is the college in the country where student-athletes get a good education? (hint: you might want to go take a look at the university academic ratings list again - or possible for the first time)
5. I don't the exact statistics, but the info you provided sounds accurate. However, ND is NOT the only the school with a high graduation rate and it does not have the highest rate!
6. LOL, are you serious? First, since when is ND not a football factory? They are one of if not the most storied football program in the country! Second, regardless of which institution you look it they will have players who made to the NFL and put their education to good use as it relates to money management and thsoe that don't. And although there are many players who do not manage their finances well, they are the exceptions NOT the majority. The majority of NFL players DO NOT end up broke and bankrupt (although arguably none should - but that isn't the point). Since you think ND's football players are so smart when was the last time they had a Rhodes scholar? You are aware that football factory down south (FSU) had one two years ago?
7. Only statement you made that is almost acurate. The only problem with your statement is that you suggest if they attended ND things would turn out differently for them. WRONG! First off this particular type of student likely wouldn't qualify for ND to begin with. Second, if you wash out at school like Florida you wouldn't make it at ND anyway. Has nothing to do with the school but rather the individual. You don't learn by osmosis (just because an athlete or any student attends ND doesn't mean they will leave with a great education - and that is true at any school).