Why 'Purposeful' Titans Rookie Carnell Tate Is The Receiver Cam Ward Needs

In November 2019, during a Chicago-area high school football playoff game, a 14-year-old Carnell Tate couldn’t be stopped.

Starring for Marist High School, the freshman receiver caught eight passes for 92 yards against Loyola Academy, a perennial national power and the defending Illinois state champions. When Tate scored the late touchdown that helped Marist push the game out of reach, his teammates went crazy.

But not Tate.

"Our senior wide receiver came up to me and he's like, 'He won't even celebrate!,'" Matt Shalvis, Marist’s offensive coordinator, told me.

"He was humble, so it was hard to get him to react at all out there. He was like a robot — just out there playing the game, consuming everything. Great teammate — not like he was shut off to his teammates — he just didn't like to boast or celebrate his touchdowns or anything. … You could tell he was excited, but he just didn't want to show anybody up or show it."

Nearly seven years later, not much has changed. For the No. 4 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, equanimity appears to be a defining attribute.

Tate has stayed emotionally neutral throughout his first training camp with the Tennessee Titans. It doesn’t matter how big of a play he makes. He even kept his cool during a physical, chippy joint practice with the San Francisco 49ers last week. 

"You got to know how to control your emotions and not let your emotions control you," Tate said after a few weeks of his first NFL camp. "When you’re able to do that, you’re able to consistently play at a high level."

That’s what the Titans will need from Tate, of course. He is expected to develop into a No. 1-caliber wide receiver, one who will accelerate second-year quarterback Cam Ward’s development as Tennessee's franchise quarterback.  

After a catch-less preseason debut last week against San Francisco, Tate will look for his first NFL reception when the Titans host the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night (8 p.m. ET on FOX). 

"I thought he was very physical in the run game," Titans coach Robert Saleh said of Tate’s performance in the preseason opener. "… He played physical, he played fast. He was winning his one-on-ones when he was getting those opportunities. As time goes, we’ll find ways to give him the ball."

‘That’s The Level Of Expectations He Has’ 

During his time at Ohio State, former Buckeyes offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline would point out "MAs" — missed assignments — when his receivers blocked the wrong guy. 

But Tate took it a step further. An MA for him came from blocking the right guy … but using the wrong kind of leverage or the wrong shoulder. To Tate, if he didn’t make contact with the proper play-side leverage, then he didn’t know the play. So that's a mental mistake.

Now the head coach at the University of South Florida, Hartline explained that Tate was simply holding himself to a higher standard.  

"That’s the level of expectations he has," Hartline told me. 

Before transferring to Florida’s IMG Academy, Tate got straight A's as a freshman at Marist. Every day, he made the long commute from home on the west side of Chicago to Marist, a private Catholic school on the south side.

"He was up early, and he was taking buses by himself and putting in that work to make sure he was there," Titans rookie offensive lineman Pat Coogan, Tate’s teammate at Marist, told me.

Added Ron Dawczak, his coach at Marist: "There was no detail too small."

During Tate’s freshman year at Ohio State, there was one game week when one of the Buckeyes’ top receivers, current Tampa Bay Buccaneers star Emeka Egbuka, was sidelined due to injury. Tate was up to fill the void in the slot — a position he’d never played to that point. But Hartline watched him fit into the offense seamlessly, a testament to the preparation he’d done to understand the entire scheme. 

When Tate entered the Buckeyes’ loaded wide receiver room, which included Egbuka and Marvin Harrison Jr., he peppered his older counterparts with questions — about Ohio State, playing college ball and football at large. He was a willing blocker. Hartline always knew he could count on Tate in any given play call.

No matter if he was banged up or out of gas, Tate had a way of compartmentalizing any feelings that took away from his ability to perform. He embraced constructive feedback and applied it to the field almost immediately. 

Tate became vocal in the meeting room with seniority, not afraid to call out players at other positions. 

"He's a quiet kid at heart," Ohio State wide receiver Brandon Inniss told me. "But when he opens his mouth, people listen because they see his potential and abilities on the field."

Hartline describes Tate as "very purposeful."

"He doesn't like to watch people do half-assed things," Hartline explained to me. "Carnell doesn't do well with stupidity. Carnell doesn't do well with laziness. Carnell doesn't do well with lack of excellence from people, like coaches. It doesn't matter. If you're talking and it's not good, he's gonna tell you it's not good. If you're playing football and you're on his team and it's not good, he's gonna tell you it's not good.

"He just calls a spade a spade. He's got his boys. He's really tight with his boys. But when it comes to work and football, it's just more of a matter of fact. He doesn't need the [pat] on the back."

‘He Really Doesn’t Drop Nothing’ 

During a two-minute drill near the end of Monday’s practice, the Titans’ offense faced a fourth-and-long near midfield. 

Ward connected with Tate deep down the right sideline to move the chains. It was an impressive catch for the rookie receiver, who stretched his arms wide to make the grab and held on despite a mid-air collision with Titans safety Kevin Winston Jr. It added to Tate’s growing list of highlight-worthy plays since the offseason program. 

He’s been a primary target for Ward on third downs and other got-to-have-it situations. 

"He really doesn’t drop nothing," Ward said in May. 

That was the case at Ohio State, too — he didn’t register a drop last season, according to Pro Football Focus.

The 6-foot-2, 192-pound Tate is a sure-handed, crafty route runner who glides in and out breaks. He’s smooth. He’s a ball tracker and proficient at making contested catches. Whatever he lacks in suddenness, he makes up for with long speed that enables him to get behind the defense at a high rate. 

"No, he doesn't have 4.2 speed, and he doesn't have a 40-inch vertical," Egbuka told me. "But when it comes to making separation, running clean routes and catching the ball, he does all those things at a very, very high level. And that's what we get paid to do." 

Statistically, Tate was Ohio State’s second option behind Jeremiah Smith last season. Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin didn’t see it that way, though.

"I like to tell people we had two number ones when he was here," Sayin told me. "When you're a quarterback, you have a lot of trust in him."

It’s not like being Ohio State's No. 2 or even No. 3 receiver has prevented anyone from becoming an NFL star, either. 

Egbuka, who was 62 yards short of 1,000 receiving yards as an NFL rookie last year, was the Buckeyes’ No. 2 option to Smith in ‘24. New York Jets star Garrett Wilson, the NFL's 2022 Offensive Rookie of the Year, and New Orleans Saints All-Pro Chris Olave ranked second and third for Ohio State in receiving yards, respectively, in their last college season in 2021. The Buckeyes' wide receiver room is regularly filled with guys who, because of all the talent, never get to show what they’re fully capable of in college. 

The Titans are counting on Tate to add to that list. 

But at the moment, he’s not actively seeking out the guidance of former Ohio State receivers starring in the NFL. Instead, he’s zeroed in on being the best possible receiver for Titans OC Brian Daboll's offense. 

"I’m leaning on the guys who’ve been around Dabes," Tate said earlier this month. "Like, Wan’Dale [Robinson] has been with him with the Giants. So I’m trying to learn as much as possible from Wan’Dale. He’s played every position in Dabes' offense. He’s been with Dabes the past four years. And then Rid [Calvin Ridley] is familiar with the offense as well. I just be trying to learn from those two guys."

So Tate is focused. You could even say purposeful.