Golden Tate was the best receiver in college football this year. Period. Point. Blank. He had the most consistent production (most 100-yard games), he made the most spectacular plays (like the leaping touchdown grab over the entire Washington State defense), and he was the most dangerous weapon a quarterback could have (the Biletnikoff says so).

He is good enough play in The League. But, will he be a star? Golden’s hands (super glue), speed (cheetah), instincts (Donald Trump in Real Estate), strength (Hercules), and running ability (Michael Scofield from state prisons) say “yes”. His height (short like Cliff’s Notes), and route running skills, or ability to separate (all the smoothness of Marlboro cigarette), say “no”.

I have heard his route running mentioned in the negative on more than one occasion. Mel Kiper cited that skill as a reason to have Tate as a second or third round pick (though I think later mocks have him sneaking into the late first round). ESPN’s Colin Cowherd cited route running as the reason that Texas’s Jordan Shipley (he made stud Alabama defensive backs look silly in the BCS Championship) will have a long career, and the reason that Golden Tate (many of his catches were spectacular because he always had multiple defenders around him) will struggle.

So, will he be a success, or will he struggle?

My guess is success, based on two reasons.

1.) A scout’s tendency to put too much emphasis on one negative factor, and magnify it more than it needs to be.

2.) Tate has far more big-time skills than he has negative qualities.

For the first point, one doesn’t need to look hard to see that talent evaluators will take a single negative-and hold it over against a player like your wife held the one time you took her sister’s side in an argument ten years ago over your head (you remember, it took 6 “I’m Sorry” cards, 10 boxes of Dove Chocolates, 3 pleadings on the knees, a trip to Disney World, and 6 more months before she let you see her naked again). They do this to every player under the microscope. Take Tim Tebow’s throwing motion. Now, it does take Tebow as long to get rid of the ball as it takes to complete a game of Monopoly (Why won’t it end!), and elite NFL quarterbacks are able to get rid of the ball between one and two seconds, but that doesn’t mean he needs to become a tight end, necessarily. He can work on his release, he can live out of the shotgun, learn to read defenses better, etc., to improve his release time. (For the record, the baseline measure for “activity accomplished in an adequate time”, was Negro League star Satchel Paige. He could turn off the lights, run up the stairs, hop into bed, and impregnate a white girl in the time it takes for Tebow to cock the ball behind his shoulder.)

Tate, like Tebow, does have a thing or two going against him. But, he has imperfections that can be corrected or negated (his timing and leaping ability already negate his lack of height) by practice and natural improvement. (He is just three years removed from being a running back, and still learning the wide receiver position.)

For the second point, given the gluttony of positives mentioned earlier, Golden should still have an excellent shot in the NFL.

If he can just learn to separate.