One Final Look: Chase Claypool, Anonymity To Stardom
BlueandGold.com had a chance during last season to catch up with all three of the top-three-round Notre Dame 2020 NFL Draft picks — Cole Kmet, Chase Claypool and Julian Okwara — to hear and share their stories of tragedy and triumph, diversity and dedication.
Here is Part 2 of a three-part series on those gone but not-forgotten players.
Even into his high school junior year in 2014, Chase Claypool held no intentions of arriving at the place he is today — an accelerated six-year journey that lifted him from a marginal four-star high school recruit, to Irish team MVP honors last season, to a second-round NFL draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Building local lore as one of the best Canadian high school athletes of his generation, “Mapletron” remained anonymous as a late arrival to the game of football at Abbotsford High School in British Columbia — a school situated three hours north of Seattle that isn’t exactly known as a recruiting hotbed.
Because of his standout size, length and athleticism, Claypool dominated every athletic whim he chose during his formative years.
He was a gifted BMX bike rider, until his knees could no longer fit under the handlebars. Snowboarding, karate and gymnastics were a few other of Claypool’s youthful endeavors.
Claypool also brags that an exception was made to let him play little league baseball as a 4-year-old.
“But I really didn’t have a passion for that sport,” Claypool said of his brief baseball career, which was spent mainly building sandcastles on the infield.
After dominating his elementary school classmates playing football during recess as an 8-year-old, Claypool became hooked and joined an organized league.
“I’ve been playing ever since,” said Claypool, who sprouted so quickly he wore size-15 shoes as a seventh-grader.
Still a hobby, football became a serious endeavor for Claypool as a high school junior when it was suggested he might have a bright future in the sport.
“After that, I started getting looks from colleges,” he said. “Before then, I wasn’t even thinking about going to the next level because I didn’t think it was a possibility.”
But now what?
Claypool could have played Division I college basketball (check this out). As a 6-5, 205-pound five-position player, Claypool averaged 48 points per game as a high school senior before football won out as his athletic pursuit of choice post-high school.
But when college coaches scout for elite recruits, the talent-rich states of Florida, Texas and California typically come to mind, not British Columbia.
Claypool was approached by an acquaintance — eventually his trainer — to lobby college football coaches on his understudy’s behalf. The far-reaching power of social media also fueled Claypool’s recruiting ascent.
Scholarship offers from Nevada, San Diego State, Utah, Rice and Oregon followed, which is when Notre Dame entered the mix.
In June 2015, two months before Claypool’s high school senior year began, he accepted an invitation to Notre Dame’s “Irish Invasion” camp.
Claypool watched “Rudy” during his connecting flight into Chicago, and became hooked on Notre Dame before even setting foot on campus, later calling his commitment decision a “no brainer.”
As a side note, Claypool scored 51 points in a basketball game the night before he verbally committed to Notre Dame in February 2016.
And only about four years later, Claypool is realizing a dream he never even dreamt of 10 years ago.
Playing now at 6-4 and 238 pounds, Claypool will enter Steelers training camp at least two inches taller and almost 20 pounds heavier than any other receiver on the team’s roster.
“Everybody’s looking for traits, and the physical traits for [Claypool] are his size and length and catching radius,” Irish head coach Brian Kelly said this week in a post-draft assessment. “He can go up and catch the football and create mismatches, elite traits physically. And then from an excellence standpoint, he has an incredible drive and competitiveness in him that separates him amongst many.”
Endorsement noted, Kelly also insisted — as do most other NFL scouts and analysts — that Claypool’s physical skills are only a single line item on a broad player profile.
While at Notre Dame, Claypool was a special teams stalwart, recording 25 tackles on Irish kick coverage teams. He also recovered a muffed punt last season against Georgia that set up a Notre Dame score, one of his two fumble recoveries in 2019.
“Claypool is going to have a long career in the NFL even if he never contributes on offense due to his incredible ability as a special teams ace,” explained NFLDraftCountdown.com analyst Scott Wright. “But there is a whole lot of upside too for him as a pass-catcher due to his size and athleticism.”
And when Claypool — one of only eight Canadian players ever to suit up for Notre Dame — fulfilled his NFL Draft dream last week, he joined Miles Boykin from 2019 and Equanimeous St. Brown from 2018 as the first trio of Irish receivers selected in three consecutive drafts since 1994-96 (Lake Dawson in ’94, Mike Miller in ’95 and Derrick Mayes in ’96).
Claypool laid out his individual goals before last season as recording at least 1,000 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns. He reached both, finishing with 13 touchdowns and 1,037 yards.
The highlight of 2019 came against Navy Nov. 16, when Claypool recorded four touchdowns and 117 yards on only seven catches.
Asked later if he had ever scored four touchdowns in a game, Claypool shrugged off the question and referenced a 10-touchdown performance he recorded in middle school.
This clip provides validation.
UP NEXT: Julian Okwara
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