One of my favorite Tigers: Chansi Stuckey

Nov 6, 2018, 10:18 AM

I always admired Chansi for sticking with the team and transitioning to WR. It clearly worked out for him and for the team. I think the reason it sticks out to me was because, just the year before, we lost Willie Simmons who left after getting benched for Charlie.

I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately as I look at the decision process KB is going through. It reminds me of Woody and Tajh - both phenomenal athletes that, to my understanding, were so focused on playing QB in the League that they potentially missed out on opportunities at other positions.

Chansi wrote an article in 2017 that I just found (https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/qvjv37/dabo-swinney-yelled-and-screamed-and-turned-me-into-an-nfl-wide-receiver) and he talks about that going through that decision. The article was probably solicited to talk about Dabo because that’s clearly the main focus, but there’s so much in there I didn’t know before.

For starters, he said that CTB recruited him to be the next Woody. Well, anyone who looked at Chansi’s frame could tell you he wasn’t going to be the next Woody, at least not without another 80 pounds. (it’s not quite as bad as CTB promising Jamie Harper the first carry of the season - sheesh that was awful)

The next thing that hit me was Chansi’s aversion to becoming just another athletic HS black QB that college coaches recruit to play WR. What stands out to me the most there is that he’s not wrong; and at the time he’s a 19 year old kid trying to make a path for himself in a system that shows so many symptoms of being racially skewed against him. Don’t bother arguing about it: put yourself in his shoes and really ponder the emotions of his situation, he had a right to feel that way.

The majority of the article focuses on his relationship with Dabo - and is a pretty powerful confirmation of every good feeling you ever had about our lauded HC. The main takeaway is Dabo’s focus on development, both as a player and as a person. Chansi says “I believe Dabo stands apart because he's willing to put his players' success as people over wins for the program.”

I don’t want to pick on CTB so much but when I think about this staff’s focus on developing talent I remember how that contrasts to a particular game where CTB was mic’ed up during pregame warmups. He was walking around clapping his hands and cheering “Let your playmakers make plays! Let your playmakers make plays!” I always wondered: what’s the point of saying that? It doesn’t really inspire anyone to do anything - just let the game happen!?

Well, Chansi WAS a playmaker but I don’t think that just happened on its own. I’m grateful he stayed to become one of the greats.

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I have a distinct memory of that same pregame where CTB was clapping, walking from player to player saying, "Let the playmakers make plays," and thinking to myself, that's just stupid. He sounded like a rec coach who didn't know what he was doing. Kind of sounded like, "The rest of you just get out of their way."

And, I don't remember the year, but in one of the Bowden Bowl games they had a camera in the locker room and broadcast his pregame speech...which he was reading from note cards. It was terrible.

CTB is a good man, I'm sure of that. He brought Dabo to Clemson, and if that were all the good he had ever done, that would be significant. But he did more than that. He beat some bad coot teams with regularity, among other things. But it is obvious we were never going to be anything but mediocre under him.

One of my favorite Tigers: Chansi Stuckey

Re: One of my favorite Tigers: Chansi Stuckey

I used to yell

He was under rated as a punt returner to.***

That's a pretty nice article he wrote.***

Re: One of my favorite Tigers: Chansi Stuckey

Re: One of my favorite Tigers: Chansi Stuckey

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