How Clemson ended up offering a no-star QB who is committed to play baseball for UGA
North Oconee High quarterback Bubba Chandler never imagined an offer to play football at Clemson was a possibility.
A class of 2021 recruit, Chandler is committed to play baseball at Georgia. He is unranked by 247Sports and Rivals, and before last week he had no idea who Clemson quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Brandon Streeter was.
Chandler went from having no Power 5 football offers to having an offer from one of the best programs in the country on Thursday as a FaceTime video conversation with Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney included a scholarship offer to the 6-foot-4, 195-pound prospect. It marked a wild and exciting couple of weeks that were totally unexpected for the Georgia native.
“About a week ago my head coach called me and said, ‘Hey, you’re going to get a phone call in a few minutes.’ He didn’t tell me who it was. He named the name, but I really didn’t know who it was,” Chandler told The State.
That phone call ended up being from Streeter, who was letting Chandler know that Clemson was impressed with his film.
Chandler’s high school coach — Tyler Aurandt, previously worked with Clemson safeties coach Mickey Conn at Grayson High in Georgia. Conn called Aurandt last week to check in and the conversation turned to Chandler.
“We had talked about him previously but everybody had kind of known that Bubba’s had baseball on his radar. He’s always been open to playing football. Coach Conn said he was going to take some time and watch the film,” Aurandt said. “I guess they liked what they saw.”
Within a few hours, coach Streeter called Aurandt and then called Chandler. Chandler FaceTimed with Streeter and Tigers offensive coordinator Tony Elliott last week but still believed that receiving an offer from Clemson was probably months away, if he was going to get one at all.
Chandler’s previous offers to play football were from smaller schools such as Elon, Gardner-Webb and Charlotte, and in order for the Tigers to offer Chandler he believed that at minimum they would want to see him throw in person first.
However, after doing some yard work this past Thursday, Chandler took a nap. He woke up to a text message from Streeter.
“It said, ‘Hey man, FaceTime this number’ and it was Dabo’s. Coach Streeter called me and said, ‘Hey man, it’s going to happen fast. I just want to let you know.’ I didn’t really know what he was talking about. ... We hung up, I called coach Swinney and had a 40-minute conversation with him.”
During the conversation is when Swinney offered Chandler a scholarship.
“It means the world. I’m a huge Dabo Swinney fan, so it’s always been my dream to talk to him and meet him and everything and it happened,” Chandler said. “It definitely changes my thought process of what I’m going to do.”
Chandler committed to Georgia last June to play baseball but was still keeping his football options open as more and more schools reached out.
He has started only one season at quarterback for North Oconee High but is an incredible athlete, according to Aurandt. Chandler has been a starter on the baseball team since he was a freshman and also started on the basketball team as a freshman and sophomore, before giving up the sport to focus on baseball and football.
Chandler completed 111 of 205 passes for 1,763 yards and 22 touchdowns in 2019. He also rushed 62 times 426 yards and three scores.
“From our standpoint, we knew how talented he was. With him being committed to play baseball at Georgia, I think that really slowed down his recruiting from a football standpoint. He has an opportunity to play professional baseball and get drafted after next baseball season,” Aurandt said. “I think a lot of people haven’t wanted to take a chance on him because of baseball stuff.”
After getting an offer from Clemson, the Tigers certainly have Chandler’s attention.
Chandler said he’s not in a huge hurry to make a final decision and ideally he would like to visit Clemson first. There is uncertainty about when a potential visit might take place due to the coronavirus.
In the meantime, Chandler is likely to continue to draw interest from Power 5 schools now that Clemson has come forth with an offer.
“Before Clemson, Auburn was recruiting me. I’ve talked to coach (Chad) Morris their offensive coordinator a pretty good amount,” Chandler said. “Vanderbilt reached out, Louisville. I have a Zoom meeting with their whole offensive staff Tuesday. That’s about it.”
Aurandt added that as more and more schools watch Chandler’s film and see what type of athlete he is, the offers will likely start to pile up.
“He’s super talented. He’s got a really, really strong arm, one that you don’t see and that I may never coach again… He’s the total package,” Aurandt said. “I think it’s really about to take off for him from a recruiting standpoint, and I’m glad because he deserves it. It just happened a little bit later than a lot of other kids that go through this process.”
