Chase Claypool was the guy out of Abbotsford, British Colunmbia; a kid who I was first to cover through our affiliation with his trainer and 7 on 7 Coach Eddie Ferg. Ill cut to the chase at this point. Claypool is bigger and faster and more special then most anyone knows. His film which is embedded below shows an elite athlete with terrific speed. Oregon Duck level speed apparently because they offered him as soon as the word began to spread. The 64.5″ and 212 lb wide receiver just landed his 12th offer and that came from Michigan last week. Jim Harbaugh himself flew to Seattle and jumped in a car to drive to BC to find Chase and offer him.
What the 1-1 time evaluating him did for me was eliminate any concerns I had that there was hype more then the real stuff. He can leap, run, catch, and is intimidating. This young man, who has a 3.6 GPA, can expect schools like Alabama to offer next. He loves Oregon although he did not receive an invite to the Opening Regional on June 14th, 2015 at Oregon. Not to worry; we made that happen in one phone call.
Discussing Chase yesterday with someone from Chicago that called me for an expert opinion on him caused me to pause and I had to think when I had seen a kid with this size and talent come out of the NW. I had a hard time; I finally came up with All American Kasen Williams from Skyline. Claypool is 2 plus inches taller and has much longer arms. He does not have a big time QB throwing him the football which Williams had in Jake Heaps and Max Browne.
I dont think one thing stood out more in the non-padded event then the smoothness and fluidity with which he moved. Chase did not dominate every down. Guys like Isaiah Gilchrist (Bellevue) and Trevon Shelton (Bothell) manned him up and did a great job. The thing is he is so big and has a 69″ reach (we think) so when the ball goes up no one is going to out leap or out muscle him. That ball is going to be his if he wants it.
