Donavan Tate leaves Arizona football team, ending comeback attempt

The 27-year-old quarterback’s comeback attempt has ended

The comeback attempt is over.

27-year-old freshman quarterback Donavan Tate is no longer listed on the Arizona Wildcats’ roster and has left the team, according to Michael Lev of the Arizona Daily Star.

A little Arizona football news for you on Christmas Eve: QB Donavan Tate has left the team. Former No. 3 pick in MLB draft was attempting a football comeback. Will get some comments from RichRod in a bit.

— Michael Lev (@MichaelJLev) December 24, 2017

Tate, selected No. 3 overall by the San Diego Padres in the 2007 MLB Draft, was attempting to reinvent himself in football after his Major League Baseball career was derailed by injuries and substance addiction.

It is unclear if this means Tate’s football comeback is overall altogether or if he will look to accomplish it elsewhere.

Tate, redshirting in 2017, is still listed as a student in UA’s phonebook.

Teammates spoke highly of him back in fall camp as he readjusted to football after being away from the sport since high school.

“He’s just being a sponge and that’s all you can ask for him to do is be a sponge, absorb everything you can and just learn,” said UA quarterback Brandon Dawkins. “Going from being a professional athlete in one sport and then trying to flip it over to another sport, that’s a feat in itself. The fact that he’s taking it on full speed, I can only commend him for it.”

Arizona’s quarterback depth chart is fairly crowded in the near future with Khalil Tate only being a sophomore and highly-touted Cienega product Jamarye Joiner expected to join the team next fall (though he did not sign in the December signing period), perhaps a reason for Donavan Tate’s departure.

If Tate simply decided football isn’t for him, hopefully he is successful in his next endeavor. He has come along way since he hit “rock bottom” in his battle with drug and alcohol addiction.

“I know this is my last chance to live up to the dual-sport athletic brilliance I displayed while in high school, when nearly every college in the country would have begged me to sign with them in either football or baseball,” he wrote before the season (via Bleacher Report). “I have no idea how this will wind up, but I know where I've been, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that I'm not going to take the present moment for granted.”

Here’s a good read on all that Tate has been through the last several years.

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