Iowa football: Drew Tate recalls first time he met Robert Gallery

Former Iowa football quarterback Drew Tate gave a glimpse of what it’s like stepping foot on campus as a freshman. Apparently, Robert Gallery is massive.

Drew Tate was one of the best quarterbacks to ever play in the black and gold and specifically for Kirk Ferentz, but even one of the more confident quarterbacks in Hawkeyes history had some “oh crap” moments when he joined the Iowa football team.

As a four-star quarterback recruit out of Texas, Tate was known as a gunslinger despite his relatively small stature. Standing at 6’0” and 170 pounds soaking wet, he was a bit on the small side so it only makes sense that when he came to Iowa City and stood next to Robert Gallery who is an absolute massive human being at 6’7” and 325 pounds, he was a little worried.

In an interview with the Locked On Hawkeyes, Drew Tate recalls the first time he stepped foot into the Hawkeyes locker room, and believe me when I say there was a lot of shock involved for the relatively small quarterback from Baytown, Texas.

"My very first shower in the locker room, I was standing right next to Robert Gallery, and I was like, ‘Dude, what the (expletive) is going in with these people. I’ve never seen people this big before. Shouldn’t he be a professional wrestler or something’"

Tate went on to talk about his experiences seeing two of the “smaller” guys in the locker room.

"Then I saw Bob Sanders and Fred Russel in the locker room, and I was like, ‘Dude, I am never going to play here"

For reference, Bob Sanders was 5’8” and 206 pounds while Fred Russel was 5’10” and 195 pounds.

Tate finished off his speel about the size of his former Iowa football teammates by saying former wide receiver Mo Brown looked like a defensive end.

Needless to say, Tate got over his initial impressions quickly as he went on to have one of the most productive careers in Iowa football history as he threw for over 8,000 yards and 61 touchdowns while leading the Hawks to an Outback Bowl victory in his sophomore season.

I can only imagine the horror and shock he felt though stepping into that locker room for the first time and seeing some of those guys. The combination of Iowa farm boys and Chris Doyle’s incredible strength training program have done wonders for the Iowa football program.

For context, Tate weighs a bit more at 192 pounds and is now coaching quarterbacks for the BC Lions in the Canadian Football League.