Had 2020 been a normal year, undoubtedly the most intriguing fall camp position battle to keep an eye on with the Buffs would have been at quarterback. In early August, that competition got even more interesting when Judson Rockets (Converse, Texas) QB Mike Chandler announced he was coming to Colorado as a walk-on.
With the starting QB contestants — true freshman Brendon Lewis, junior Tyler Lytle and senior Sam Noyer — all lacking any semblance of significant collegiate game snaps, Chandler likely would have had as good a shot as anyone's to compete for playing time in 2020 and beyond.
In 2019 at Judson, Chandler led the Rockets to a 12-2 overall campaign which saw the team, in each victory, win by an average of 30 points. Judson advanced to the Class 6A Division I Region IV title game, in which the Rockets fell, 48-35 to Lake Travis.
In total from 2018-2019, his junior and senior seasons at Judson, he led the Rockets to a 24-3 overall record.
Chandler scored four of the Rockets' five touchdowns during the title game and accounted for 326 yards of offense by himself (191 through the air, 135 of rushing.)
His title game performance was akin to what Chandler had done all season long for Judson in terms of numbers, which are as eyebrow-raising as they are unbelievable for a player whose only college football scholarships came from Lamar, New Mexico State and Tyler Junior College.
In 2019, Chandler put up monster statistics. His total offensive yardage was 3,844. He posted a 62% completion percentage, threw for 2,563 through the air and tossed 25 touchdowns compared to just four interceptions.
On the ground, he averaged 8.4 yards per carry, rushing for 1,281 yards and scoring another 25 touchdowns.
Those senior year statistics netted Chandler three collegiate scholarship offers, one of which was JUCO and none of which were at the Power Five level, something that continues to make Judson head coach Rodney Williams scratch his head.
“It was very confusing to me, " he said. "I’m a football junkie — my dad was a coach, I grew up on the football field and around athletics in general. I watched and tried to learn from as many players and coaches around and I’m looking at Mike and looking at other people that are playing and I’m thinking: 'Well, you can’t say he’s too small because he’s just as big as most of the other guys. You can’t say he doesn’t pass' — he’s doing this often in three quarters. We wouldn’t play him sometimes in the fourth quarter."
"So, I pinpoint some of his top notch throws and think ‘OK, I’ve seen ‘this’ quarterback make the throw and Mike makes the same throw, but I was speechless. I begged everybody I could. We could not fathom why he was not getting at least a chance to have these offers. In the end, it worked out, and (Colorado) might be the best thing for him because he has to take the road that a lot of people don’t like taking. In this day and time, people are not that patient. Mike was, and now you see where he’s at.”
Could Chandler have struggled in the classroom and thus that perhaps was the reason he wasn't getting any offers? It doesn't appear so.
"Just like a lot of kids, we had to make sure some grades were trending in the right direction but he ended up being perfectly fine," Williams said. "I don’t know — like I said, I was beating myself up. This guy accounts for 400-450 yards by himself a game. We were being nice honestly — we could have run it up a lot more (on opponents.) If I would have known that, to maybe get this kid a shot, I would have probably done it differently (and not yanked him out of blowouts). I’m just confused and am waiting to see what is going to be the reasoning why, but I think he’s going to go up (to Boulder) and turn some heads. He’s going to go and do work against anybody he plays against.”
Interestingly enough, the 1,281 yards Chandler racked up on the ground a lot of the time came from improvisation.
Williams admitted that Judson's offense was not loaded with a surplus of plays for Chandler to run the ball, but when he did, it was often for huge chunks of yardage, evidenced by the 8.4 yards on average that the chains moved after each of his attempts.
“In actuality, he throws the ball really, really well," Williams said. "We have a few plays that we called for (him) to run the ball but he really wasn’t designed to run the ball that much, it’s just when he did run it, it was for big plays. He’s a very good thrower. The bottom line is that the kid’s a winner. He doesn’t lose. He hasn’t lost many games in football or basketball in his career. That’s the biggest thing I like about him — he is a winner.”
With no disrespect intended, Williams expressed confidence that Chandler has what it takes to compete with anybody — namely guys at Colorado who did experience robust recruitments and had a lot of offers.
"We watched film on that quarterback from Melissa that (Colorado) got," Williams said. "As a competitor, nothing against Melissa, but (Chandler) put (points) up against 6A opponents. You’re going see a very, very competitive young man when things open up. He has a big arm, he can make all the throws, if he has to, he can go under center. We talk all about coverages and once he learned the terminology, he picked up our offense. The first year, I just threw it at him. He’s a very smart young man.”
All in all, no matter how you spin it and despite Chandler's lack of offers, it looks like the Buffs got away with a major steal in bringing him into the fold as a walk-on. When the time does come for the inevitable quarterback battle to begin, Chandler plans on giving it his all and seeing where his versatility takes him.
“Talking to him, and me and his dad are real close — he had a chance to go to a Power Five (program)," Williams said. "Nothing against New Mexico State and Lamar, but he got a chance to go to a Pac-12 school. It’s always harder to go up than it is to come down. So if things don’t work out, I said ‘Mike, you can always go back to Tyler Junior College and get back in the system but it’s hard to go up.' It took so much to get him there, and he had an opportunity right now, I said ‘just go run with it, man. Let’s see what happens. You know you can compete with anybody, so go ahead and see what happens.’”
FIN
...
What a mystery it remains that Chandler's recruitment was so dry. Clearly he was fine in the classroom — Williams gave a pretty honest answer there, saying (and I paraphrase) 'Look, yeah, maybe he needed a helping hand in school from time to time but by no means is that rare or exclusive to him in terms of a normal high school football player's experience.'
The stats speak for themselves. Putting up those stats at the 6A level, winning all those games, advancing to the title game in both years — how in the hell does that net a quarterback three offers? So befuddling. Williams clearly expressed similar disbelief in how college football programs simply seemed to look past him. Who knows why, but it's abundantly clear that Chandler has the potential to be an extremely important asset for CU in the years to come.
Will he ever start a game? It's certainly possible that he won't, but given the Buffs' QB situation, he is a welcomed addition to the fold and if anything, is coming to Boulder very hungry, looking for an opportunity to prove himself.
Chandler's a quiet guy on social media and it would appear in general, so I was glad Williams provided the insight he did. Definitely got me excited to see if his high school stats and success at Judson translate to college. We shall see.
With the starting QB contestants — true freshman Brendon Lewis, junior Tyler Lytle and senior Sam Noyer — all lacking any semblance of significant collegiate game snaps, Chandler likely would have had as good a shot as anyone's to compete for playing time in 2020 and beyond.
In 2019 at Judson, Chandler led the Rockets to a 12-2 overall campaign which saw the team, in each victory, win by an average of 30 points. Judson advanced to the Class 6A Division I Region IV title game, in which the Rockets fell, 48-35 to Lake Travis.
In total from 2018-2019, his junior and senior seasons at Judson, he led the Rockets to a 24-3 overall record.
Chandler scored four of the Rockets' five touchdowns during the title game and accounted for 326 yards of offense by himself (191 through the air, 135 of rushing.)
His title game performance was akin to what Chandler had done all season long for Judson in terms of numbers, which are as eyebrow-raising as they are unbelievable for a player whose only college football scholarships came from Lamar, New Mexico State and Tyler Junior College.
In 2019, Chandler put up monster statistics. His total offensive yardage was 3,844. He posted a 62% completion percentage, threw for 2,563 through the air and tossed 25 touchdowns compared to just four interceptions.
On the ground, he averaged 8.4 yards per carry, rushing for 1,281 yards and scoring another 25 touchdowns.
Those senior year statistics netted Chandler three collegiate scholarship offers, one of which was JUCO and none of which were at the Power Five level, something that continues to make Judson head coach Rodney Williams scratch his head.
“It was very confusing to me, " he said. "I’m a football junkie — my dad was a coach, I grew up on the football field and around athletics in general. I watched and tried to learn from as many players and coaches around and I’m looking at Mike and looking at other people that are playing and I’m thinking: 'Well, you can’t say he’s too small because he’s just as big as most of the other guys. You can’t say he doesn’t pass' — he’s doing this often in three quarters. We wouldn’t play him sometimes in the fourth quarter."
"So, I pinpoint some of his top notch throws and think ‘OK, I’ve seen ‘this’ quarterback make the throw and Mike makes the same throw, but I was speechless. I begged everybody I could. We could not fathom why he was not getting at least a chance to have these offers. In the end, it worked out, and (Colorado) might be the best thing for him because he has to take the road that a lot of people don’t like taking. In this day and time, people are not that patient. Mike was, and now you see where he’s at.”
Could Chandler have struggled in the classroom and thus that perhaps was the reason he wasn't getting any offers? It doesn't appear so.
"Just like a lot of kids, we had to make sure some grades were trending in the right direction but he ended up being perfectly fine," Williams said. "I don’t know — like I said, I was beating myself up. This guy accounts for 400-450 yards by himself a game. We were being nice honestly — we could have run it up a lot more (on opponents.) If I would have known that, to maybe get this kid a shot, I would have probably done it differently (and not yanked him out of blowouts). I’m just confused and am waiting to see what is going to be the reasoning why, but I think he’s going to go up (to Boulder) and turn some heads. He’s going to go and do work against anybody he plays against.”
Interestingly enough, the 1,281 yards Chandler racked up on the ground a lot of the time came from improvisation.
Williams admitted that Judson's offense was not loaded with a surplus of plays for Chandler to run the ball, but when he did, it was often for huge chunks of yardage, evidenced by the 8.4 yards on average that the chains moved after each of his attempts.
“In actuality, he throws the ball really, really well," Williams said. "We have a few plays that we called for (him) to run the ball but he really wasn’t designed to run the ball that much, it’s just when he did run it, it was for big plays. He’s a very good thrower. The bottom line is that the kid’s a winner. He doesn’t lose. He hasn’t lost many games in football or basketball in his career. That’s the biggest thing I like about him — he is a winner.”
With no disrespect intended, Williams expressed confidence that Chandler has what it takes to compete with anybody — namely guys at Colorado who did experience robust recruitments and had a lot of offers.
"We watched film on that quarterback from Melissa that (Colorado) got," Williams said. "As a competitor, nothing against Melissa, but (Chandler) put (points) up against 6A opponents. You’re going see a very, very competitive young man when things open up. He has a big arm, he can make all the throws, if he has to, he can go under center. We talk all about coverages and once he learned the terminology, he picked up our offense. The first year, I just threw it at him. He’s a very smart young man.”
All in all, no matter how you spin it and despite Chandler's lack of offers, it looks like the Buffs got away with a major steal in bringing him into the fold as a walk-on. When the time does come for the inevitable quarterback battle to begin, Chandler plans on giving it his all and seeing where his versatility takes him.
“Talking to him, and me and his dad are real close — he had a chance to go to a Power Five (program)," Williams said. "Nothing against New Mexico State and Lamar, but he got a chance to go to a Pac-12 school. It’s always harder to go up than it is to come down. So if things don’t work out, I said ‘Mike, you can always go back to Tyler Junior College and get back in the system but it’s hard to go up.' It took so much to get him there, and he had an opportunity right now, I said ‘just go run with it, man. Let’s see what happens. You know you can compete with anybody, so go ahead and see what happens.’”
FIN
...
What a mystery it remains that Chandler's recruitment was so dry. Clearly he was fine in the classroom — Williams gave a pretty honest answer there, saying (and I paraphrase) 'Look, yeah, maybe he needed a helping hand in school from time to time but by no means is that rare or exclusive to him in terms of a normal high school football player's experience.'
The stats speak for themselves. Putting up those stats at the 6A level, winning all those games, advancing to the title game in both years — how in the hell does that net a quarterback three offers? So befuddling. Williams clearly expressed similar disbelief in how college football programs simply seemed to look past him. Who knows why, but it's abundantly clear that Chandler has the potential to be an extremely important asset for CU in the years to come.
Will he ever start a game? It's certainly possible that he won't, but given the Buffs' QB situation, he is a welcomed addition to the fold and if anything, is coming to Boulder very hungry, looking for an opportunity to prove himself.
Chandler's a quiet guy on social media and it would appear in general, so I was glad Williams provided the insight he did. Definitely got me excited to see if his high school stats and success at Judson translate to college. We shall see.
