The Rocket’s Golden Glare

Golden Tate was born Aug. 2, 1988, the month and year Raghib “Rocket” Ismail enrolled at Notre Dame and helped the Irish to their most recent national title. By the time Tate made the same journey to campus 19 years later, only then did he become indoctrinated to the former running back, receiver and return man’s multifaceted skills.

“When I came here and actually started to hear his name and how he played the game, he’s definitely one of the guys I wanted to play and be like,” Tate said.

The two met during Tate’s freshman year in 2007 (more on that later) and connected again when Ismail spoke at the pep rally for the USC game two weeks ago.

“He gave me words of wisdom,” Tate confirmed. “It’s nice to be able to have someone like that to turn to.”

There aren’t many names in Notre Dame football lore more hallowed than Ismail, the lone player in the program’s history who accumulated more than 1,000 yards in three different categories: rushing, receiving and returns.

Tate is arguably the most exciting player to put on the gold helmet since the "Rocket."

Thus, the 1990 Walter Camp Award winner who signed an $18-million contract with the Canadian Football League after his junior year, considers it unfair that the versatile Tate is drawing some comparisons to him, but not for the reasons you might think.

“He’s so far ahead of me, it’s not even funny,” said Ismail, who will enter the 40-year club this Nov. 18.

As a receiver, that would be accurate. As also a running back and return man, though, The Rocket had few peers — ever. Even Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, speaking on five decades of coaching and playing experience, cited him as one of the handful of most electrifying college football players he’s ever seen.

Similar to Ismail, Tate arrived as a running back who had to undergo an acute learning curve while learning how to become a wide receiver. But whereas Ismail could disguise his shortcomings in an option offense by running the “go route” and little else, Tate has had a steeper road while assimilating into Charlie Weis’ Pro-style passing attack.

“I’m amazed at how he’s picked up the receiver position so well,” Ismail said. “People underestimate how difficult it is to become a receiver after playing running back. When I moved there, I almost felt like I was weakened and more vulnerable. I felt so out of my element that sometimes in practices and even games early on I would catch the pass and then fall to the ground.”

It might now seem difficult to perceive, but Ismail caught only four touchdown passes at Notre Dame — just one more than Tate did in last year’s Hawaii Bowl victory.
Ismail had three games with the Irish where he recorded at least 100 yards receiving, while Tate already has 11, with three in a row prior to last week’s game with Washington State. Ismail grabbed 71 passes in his career, while Tate had 52 after just seven games this season and was on pace for a school-record 96, bowl game included.

However, Ismail said it’s not data that makes him hold Tate in such high regard. When he first met him when Tate was a freshman during the throes of the 3-9 campaign in 2007, he immediately sensed a unique aura (takes one to know one).

“I was invited by Coach Weis to a dinner in the Monogram Room,” Ismail recalled. “All the younger guys didn’t know me … it seemed they were wanted to approach me, but they weren’t sure and were kind of apprehensive.

“Then all of a sudden, Golden comes up by me, taps me on my shoulder and says, ‘Hey, man, what did you use to think and do when you were on the field?’ He came up to pick my brain and just wanted to learn as much as he could — and his demeanor is just like that on the field. There is nothing apprehensive about him. Whatever is in front of him, he’s not scared to meet it head on. You could see that spark in him even back then, and now that spark has become a raging fire.

“You look at him now, even when they lose a Michael Floyd, his reaction is ‘I’m not going to flinch.’ He goes against the meanest safety in the land (USC’s Taylor Mays) with Ronnie Lott ability, knowing all the pressure on him, and he just says, ‘I’m not going to flinch’ and makes plays all over the field.

“Plus, he has a legendary name — a guy named Golden playing at Notre Dame. I’m on that bandwagon.”

Tate’s fast hands — “he’s like a frog ambushing an insect when he goes to the football,” Ismail said — light feet, ball skills, timing and route running remind Ismail of former Indianapolis Colts All-Pro Marvin Harrison. However, there is another former Colt Tate is equally honored to be compared to — his father, Golden Jr. a fifth-round pick of the Colts in the 1984 NFL Draft.

Tate III says the strong gene pool from his father, who played at Tennessee State, has helped him to “catch on” as a natural at receiver.

“I would always hear his buddies say how they called him Elmer’s Glue, or, ‘Your father could catch a BB in the dark,’ ” Tate recalled.

The innate talent is complemented by a work ethic in which Tate routinely stays after practice to perfect his technique, including looking a ball all the way into his hands, and then holding it in front of him for a couple of seconds to remind him of the concentration required.

“In practice I make a conscious effort to hold it there,” Tate said. “If I body up on a ball, Coach (Rob) Ianello or Jimmy Clausen are on me to catch it with my hands.”

The day after Floyd suffered a broken collarbone against Michigan State (Sept. 19), Tate texted Ianello immediately to say he will do whatever is required to help compensate for the setback.

“He said, ‘You start by playing every play hard and leading by example,’ ” said Tate of Ianello’s reply. “I took that personally and try to help the other receivers along. The first week or two it was kind of difficult, but now it’s what I do (automatically).”

His new role also has included working from the Wildcat formation, and adjusting to different routes, formations and game plans each week, and Tate credits head coach Charlie Weis for not only maximizing his skills but creating a game plan that can’t nullify him.

“Coach has done a great job of designing plays and getting me opportunities to make plays,” Tate said. “I almost feel like Coach makes the game-plan where (the opponent) cannot take me out of the game. It comes with the confidence Coach has in me. Coach knows I have the ability to understand the material and make plays.

“It’s definitely a challenge and I like it. Every time I get the game plan I’m excited about what Coach has dialed up.”

Like Ismail in 1990, at the end of this football season Tate might have to make a decision on whether to enter the NFL Draft after his t junior year or return as a senior in 2010.

“Right now, I have no clue,” said Tate of his future plans. “We’re just halfway through the season. There are a lot of things that will determine that. I don’t know.”

It’s one of the rare times you might actually catch him uncertain.