Ohio State's Carnell Tate Using his Lowest Point to Drive Him to the Next Level

Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate went from the top of the world to the bottom of it in just one phone call. Tate was a budding freshman at The Ohio State University , also known as wide receiver U, and he had his sights set on making it to the NFL and getting his family out of a tough situation back home. It was July 15, 2023, and Tate had the opportunity to FaceTime his mother, Ashley Griggs, earlier that day.

She was going to a class reunion that night. That conversation would turn out to be their last one. Griggs was murdered in a drive-by shooting that night, and it flipped Tate's life upside down.

Tate, who is quiet and introverted by nature, had a new challenge that he had to overcome: life without his best friend and his mom. When he got the phone call, he sat by himself, locked in his bedroom with his friends outside of it waiting to embrace their friend in his lowest moment. The true measure of NFL draft prospect Carnell Tate Wide receiver Carnell Tate is confident, intelligent and ready to star in the NFL.

His mother made sure of it. Tate found himself at a fork in the road. He could let this tragedy define him or propel him.