January 18, 2022

TRANSACTIONS | Elks add four Americans

The Edmonton Elks have added four more players, as the signings of Christian Angulo (DB), Jhavonte Dean (DB), Raphael Leonard (WR), and Khalil Tate (QB) were announced Tuesday.

Tate played four years at the University of Arizona (2016-19), amassing 6,318 passing yards, 57 touchdowns, and 31 interceptions. The Inglewood, California product also added 2,285 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns over 40 career games.

A four-star recruit out of Junípero Serra High School, Tate burst onto the national scene in 2017, passing for 1,591 yards and rushing for another 1,411. In October of that season he became the first player in Pac-12 Conference history to win the offensive player of the week award four consecutive weeks.

After his university career, Tate was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles, where he spent time as a wide receiver through parts of both 2020 and 2021.

Also on offence, Edmonton has added Leonard, who was signed by the BC Lions following the 2019 season, but later released prior to the 2021 season kicking off.

Collegiately, Leonard played 22 games at Illinois State over the 2017 and 2018 seasons, securing 91 receptions for 1,377 yards and 12 majors. The Starkville, Mississippi native attended Jacksonville Jaguars training camp in 2019, before being cut in late August.

Defensively the Green and Gold have added a pair of defensive backs in Angulo and Dean.

Angulo was inked last February by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and was a late July cut. The Tampa, Florida product spent four seasons at the University of Cincinnati (2015-18), appearing in 11 games, before transferring to Hampton (2019). In his lone season at Hampton, Angulo recorded 18 tackles, three interceptions, and 14 pass breakups. He went on to sign with the New York Giants in 2020, but was released after training camp. He then had stints on the practice rosters of the San Francisco 49ers and Indianapolis Colts during the 2020 NFL season.

Dean was signed last season by the Bombers, before being cut in training camp. He finished the 2019 CFL season on the Saskatchewan Roughriders practice roster after seeing action in four NFL preseason games earlier that season (three with Cleveland and one with Pittsburgh). At the collegiate level, Dean played the 2017 and 2018 seasons at the University of Miami, appearing in 25 games where he had 28 tackles, three interceptions and five pass deflections.


ROSTER MOVES

SIGNED:

  • Christian Angulo | AMER | DB | 6’2 | 190 LBS | 1997-02-17 (24) | Coral Gables, FL | Hampton
  • Jhavonte Dean | AMER | DB | 6’1 | 185 LBS | 1995-12-14 (26) | Homestead, FL | Miami
  • Raphael Leonard | AMER | WR | 6’2 | 190 LBS | 1997-05-26 (24) | Starkville, MS | Southern Illinois
  • Khalil Tate | AMER | QB | 6’0 | 216 LBS | 1998-10-23 (23) | Inglewood, CA | Arizona