Former MLB Top-5 Draft Pick Donavan Tate to Play QB at Arizona

Donavan Tate—the No. 3 overall pick in the 2009 MLB draft—is reportedly headed to the University of Arizona to play quarterback, according to the Arizona Daily Star's Michael Lev.

Tate, 26, was a top-100 football recruit in 2009 before he decided to pursue a career in baseball, according to Rivals.com's Matt Moreno.

Selected third overall by the San Diego Padres eight years ago, Tate projected as a future franchise cornerstone.

However, his career never got too far off the ground due to failed drug tests and struggles with addiction. As he told the San Diego Union-Tribune's Jeff Sanders in 2015, the 2012 offseason marked a low point.

"Up until that point, I considered myself an alcoholic," Tate said. "I loved to drink and I drank a lot. I would have drank all day, every day if I could. I drank. I smoked weed. But that offseason, for some reason I got involved with the wrong crowd. I had never touched anything besides alcohol or weed. I had never known what that stuff was like.

"I have a very addictive personality and it caught up with me—big time. It spiraled out of control."

Tate proceeded to turn a corner when it came to his struggles with substance abuse. However, his baseball journey was sidetracked by a torn Achilles that forced him to miss the entire 2014 season. As it turns out, he never made an appearance for the Padres in MLB.

Now he'll turn his attention to football in hopes of climbing up a crowded Arizona depth chart that already features Brandon Dawkins, Khalil Tate and Zach Werlinger at quarterback.