Background and career
Drew Tate (born October 8, 1984) is an American gridiron football coach and former player. He is the quarterbacks coach for the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football as a quarterback at the University of Iowa and was signed by the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League (NFL) as an undrafted free agent in 2007. Tate has played professionally for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Calgary Stampeders and Ottawa Redblacks in the CFL. He was a defensive analyst at Coastal Carolina University in 2018, before coming out of retirement to rejoin the Roughriders. On December 17, 2018, Tate retired from playing and was named quarterbacks coach for the BC Lions the following day. He has also been a coach for the TSL Alphas, and at UT Martin and the University of Northern Iowa.
Tate attended Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown, Texas, where he was coached there by his stepfather Dick Olin and had a record breaking career. He ranks first in the Texas high school football record book in career pass attempts and completions, ahead of Graham Harrell. He also ranks second in career passing yards with 12,183, behind Harrell (12,532), and third in career touchdown passes with 113, behind Harrell (167) and Colt McCoy (116). He originally committed to Texas A&M, but de-committed after R. C. Slocum was replaced with Dennis Franchione. Tate also noted that he would likely sit behind established starter Reggie McNeal, so he chose to play for the University of Iowa under coach Kirk Ferentz. He played in the 2003 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
At the 2005 Capital One Bowl, game well-attended by Iowa fans in Orlando, Florida, the Hawkeye defense played strong against the LSU offense. However, LSU took their first lead with 46 seconds remaining. LSU was coached by Nick Saban in his last year before taking over at the Miami Dolphins. On the game's final play, Tate attained fame when he threw a 56-yard, game-winning touchdown pass to senior Warren Holloway as time expired. This was Holloway's only touchdown at Iowa. Many Iowa fans say this was the greatest play in the school's football history.
All-Big Ten Conference first-team (coaches) and second-team (media) 2004 Big Ten Player of the Year (collegefootballnews.com) 2005 Capital One Bowl MVP
On May 3, 2007, Tate signed with the St. Louis Rams as a free agent, but he became expendable after the Rams signed Brock Berlin. Tate was released on May 22, 2007.
After his release from the Rams, Tate signed a practice roster agreement with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2007. After spending two years on either the practice roster or the injured reserve list, Tate was removed from the practice roster on November 9, 2008, and became a free agent.
