Football December 28, 2006

Alamo Bowl: Chandler's 'Weight Watcher's' Story

Dec. 28, 2006

Editor’s Note: Seven members of the University of Iowa football team that will square off against Texas Saturday afternoon in the 2006 Alamo Bowl hail from the state of Texas. The Hawkeyes’ roster also includes 18 seniors. The following was written by Tim Griffin and first appeared in Dec. 25 editions of the San Antonio Express-News.

SAN ANTONIO — Eating his way into the tight end position as much harder that Scott Chandler ever envisioned..

The University of Iowa tight end has bulked up by more than 40 pounds since high school after a stellar career at Southlake Carroll. And it wasn’t all Twinkies and frozen custard to get there.

“I don’t know if it was necessarily fun. It was tough for me to put on the weight,” Chandler said. “It was definitely a lot of work to put on that weight. It wasn’t anything I’d like to do again as far as all the eating.”

Despite the toll of bulking up to a hulking 6-foot-7, 260-pounder, Chandler has boosted his NFL stock and become the Hawkeyes’ top clutch receiver. He is currently listed as a potential NFL first-day draft selection by ESPN personnel guru Mel Kiper.

“I was open to it because it was an opportunity for more playing time, and I wouldn’t have gotten as much in my sophomore year,” said Chandler; who ranked second as a senior of the Hawkeyes this season with 44 receptions and led all Big Ten tight ends with six touchdown catches. “I think it’s been a good move for me.”

Chandler’s transformation has mirrored a grow-your-own approach started by former Iowa coach Hayden Fry that has been continued by his successor Kirk Ferentz.

A string of Iowa players have found success in college and made the NFL after switching positions early in their college careers. Most notable have been Oakland Raiders offensive tackle Robert Gallery, who started at Iowa as a tight end; Indianapolis Colts tight end Dallas Clark, who went to Iowa as a walk-on linebacker; and Green Bay Packers defensive end Aaron Kampman, a former Iowa linebacker.

Ferentz has had to use this out-of-the-box thinking because Iowa traditionally lacks access to some of the recruiting largesse of its Big Ten competitors.

“Some schools are able to recruit players where my sister could determine if he was a good player or not. There’s not a lot of evaluation that goes on,” Ferentz said. “We’re not fortunate to get a lot of players like that. We don’t get a lot of freshman phenoms.”

Scholarship limits also have compelled coaches to look for more versatile athletes. And it’s not like Ferentz’s staff is the only one to consider the approach.

Some of Ferentz’s strategy came from his time working with Bill Belichick, who stocked his Super Bowl winning teams of the New England Patriots with versatile role players.

Another coach who followed similar thinking was fellow Belichick disciple Nick Saban, the former LSU coach now leading the Miami Dolphins. On Saban’s Bowl Championship Series-winning team at LSU in 2004, nine of the 22 players in his starting lineup played a different position in high school.

Chandler’s adjustment has been helped by his blocking skills – something that didn’t materialize from his first day at the new position.

“There was a different kind of pounding on your body,” Chandler said. “You’re not running as much, but you’re hitting guys on every play. It was a little tough on my body that first year, but I feel like I’ve adjusted to it pretty well.”

And his Iowa coaches were confident that Chandler could make the move, like so many others during Ferentz’s tenure with the Hawkeyes.

“We’ve got to be a little more creative and a little more willing to project when we look at a player,” Ferentz said. “We have to identify a trait or two and see things that we hope will blossom as they go on.”

Linebacker Edmund Miles has 10 tackles for loss and 93 total tackles in 2006.

More Alamo Bowl

Iowa’s second most successful tackler in 2006 – senior linebacker Edmund Miles – is the focus of the latest “Alamo Bowl Countdown” video feature.

Alamo Bowl Countdown
Sunday, Dec. 17 – Quarterback Drew Tate