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Sunday, April 27, 2008
Football or baseball for Cartersville’s Tate?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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The debate over whether Cartersville junior Donovan Tate’s future lies in football or baseball will likely rage into next summer.
That’s when the 6-foot-3, 205-pound two-sport athlete is expected to be a high choice as an outfielder in the major league baseball draft.
Tate has a scholarship offer from nearly every college football power throughout the nation.
Will the son of former Georgia running back Lars Tate follow in his dad’s footsteps and sign with the Bulldogs as a quarterback or safety?
Will he play college football elsewhere?
Or will he opt to become a professional baseball player directly out of high school?
“Donovan is focused on baseball at Cartersville right now,” Cartersville football coach Frank Barden said Sunday evening. “But this is the time of year that assistant football coaches can get back out and visit. A lot of them have been coming in to see Donovan.
“A lot them will come on by the school, but they know he won’t be participating in spring football practice [which begins on Monday May 5]. They’ll come by in the morning and let Donovan know that they’re there and interested in him.”
Barden said Tate reminds him of a current member of the Atlanta Braves who was a two-sport star in high school at Parkview.
“He’s a lot like [Jeff] Francoeur,” Barden said. “He can run and throw and hit home runs. He may be a top five pick in baseball.
“But he’ll sign in February with a college and then wait for the baseball draft [in June 2009].”
If Tate winds up in college, it’s a safe bet that he will play both sports.
“It will be a college that lets him play dual sports,” Barden predicted. “When they get film on him, most of the coaches really like him as a quarterback.
“Then they go talk to the baseball coach and ask about Donovan playing. A lot of those coaches already know about him because in the baseball world his name is up there pretty high.”
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