Illinois Basketball: Remembering the careers of the Illini seniors

Jaylon Tate

There is one player that I gave the most guff to throughout his career and that was point guard Jaylon Tate. He was a kid out of Chicago and I hoped he would be a diamond in the rough but that didn’t happen.

Tate was thrown into the starting role when Tracy Abrams went down in back-to-back seasons with injuries. This was the backup plan to Abrams and while I was upset at times with his play, I always appreciated his hustle.

There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Tate shouldn’t be the starter because that wasn’t the plan. It was to have a healthy Abrams start and then Tate come off the bench with hopefully other point guard help in recruiting.

I will always remember how hard Tate worked on the basketball court. He took criticism from a lot of people, including myself, but he kept on moving forward.

Even after Tate was benched for a true freshman point guard he still was a good team guy. He never caused a scene in the locker room and he was always someone that would be there for his teammates.

I always appreciated the attitude that Tate brought to the table and that will be missed.