Terps LB Kenneth Tate (6) tackles WVU WR Tavon Austin for no gain of late in the first quarter Saturday.
On Oct. 1, 2011, Kenny Tate played his final game for the Terrapins football team.
He made nine tackles and intercepted a pass in a 28-3 drubbing of Towson, but he injured his right knee in the process. Three weeks later, coach Randy Edsall announced he would have season-ending surgery.
But on Saturday, Kenneth Tate was back on the field for the first time in nearly a year. And while he may prefer to go by a different name now, his impact on the Terps’ defense hasn’t changed a bit.
Tate looked like he hadn’t missed a beat in his first series of the season at No. 8 West Virginia, tackling wide receiver Tavon Austin for no gain on second down before breaking up a pass on third down to force a Mountaineers punt. The linebacker finished the Terps’ 31-21 loss to the Mountaineers with four tackles, a pass breakup and one tackle for loss.
“I was coming into the game feeling good; felt normal, felt fine,” said Tate, who decided in the offseason he wanted to be called Kenneth rather than Kenny. “I felt like I got back into the swing of things pretty quickly.”
It was a slow transition back to the field, though. Linebacker Alex Twine started in his place for the fourth straight game as the team’s coaching staff tried to limit Tate’s snaps — he didn’t enter the game until West Virginia’s third drive of the game late in the first quarter.
“It was just, ‘see how I felt, see how I did,’” Tate said. “I felt good, told the coaches that and they kept me in the game.”
His return marked the end of a yearlong battle to get back on the field. Tate had to seek medical hardship from the NCAA in order to redshirt the rest of his senior season and gain another year of eligibility. His late-October surgery placed his rehabilitation timetable at six to nine months, forcing him to miss all of the team’s spring practice schedule.
He recovered in time for the start of the Terps’ preseason practices, but a cartilage injury to his left knee forced him to miss the remainder of the offseason and the team’s first three games this season. His season debut Saturday marked the first time in 357 days Tate suited up for a game.
“I’ve just been working every day,” Tate said. “Everything I needed to do to get back on the field, I did. It’s good to be back.”
Edsall and Tate’s teammates thought so, too. The second-year coach has raved throughout the season about Tate’s football IQ and playmaking ability, and having him healthy gives the Terps yet another talented piece on a defense that ranks No. 8 in total defense through four games.
“I thought it was good to have Kenny back out there. I thought Kenny made some plays,” Edsall said. “We’ll take a look to see how he held up afterwards, but it’s good to have him back out there. Hopefully he came out of it good, and we can end up playing him some more.”
“He just brings a different element to the game,” linebacker Demetrius Hartsfield said. “Teams can’t do different things with him back, so it’s definitely going to bring a different threat to our defense.”
It didn’t matter that Tate’s long-awaited season debut came against a top-10 team in front of a hostile crowd, or that it was in a losing effort.
With healthy knees and a new first name, he was just excited to get back out there.
“I did have the butterflies,” Tate said, “so I just came out and tried to have fun.”
vitale@umdbk.com
