Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate knows there is power in social media.
Tate, who burst onto the college football scene last year to the tune of 1,591 passing yards, 1,411 rushing yards and 26 total touchdowns, knew as much when he said on Jan. 12 that he "didn't come to Arizona to run the triple-option" in a since-deleted tweet.
Arizona, of course, had just fired Rich Rodriguez and was in the middle of courting Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, who runs the triple option. Tate's tweet reportedly affected his decision to turn down Arizona. The Wildcats eventually hired former Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin.
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"I knew exactly what I was doing when I tweeted that out," Tate said (via Bleacher Report). "I don't do Twitter. When I tweet something, I download the app, tweet, then delete the app from my phone. So when I tweet, it's important."
Tate explained that move as a business decision: Even though he ran the read option with great acuity in 2017, the triple option would have presented greater risk to take big hits. Plus, he wanted to speak out for teammates who didn't want to run the ground-oriented attack either.
"I had to make sure I was heard, make sure the team was heard, because my teammates didn't want to run the triple option, either," Tate said. "So the idea was to tweet it out, let it get traction, then delete it. I knew people reading it would say, 'Why did he delete it?' But that just magnifies it more.
"I didn't want to go about the situation and then just be, 'OK, he's the new coach, I don't care.' Because I did care. We did care as a team," Tate said. "I knew tweeting that would create a buzz and maybe not get (Niumatalolo) as our coach. I think Ken Niumatalolo is a great coach. It's nothing against him. But I think it was important to say what I had to say and let everyone know that we're not just going to be quiet and let things happen. We're going to be heard."
