The Cardinal Countdown: 55 Days Until Kickoff

#55 Caleb Chandler

Class: Sophomore

Ht/Wt: 6-4/313

Position: Offensive Line

Hometown: Jefferson, GA

Twitter: @DayBoyCC

Thoughts: The story on Caleb Chandler’s rise to higher ground and higher accolades frankly has me overjoyed. As much as I’d like to say I saw him jumping off like this (All I do is hype these guys up after all) not even I predicted what we’ve seen from him lately, although I wish I had. Chandler, in his redshirt and subsequent freshman seasons played in 2 and 6 games, respectively. While he wasn’t bad by any means, the staff felt he was a bit uptight in his movements and thought some time in the playbook could help him grow into a solid contributor. They had faith in his physical abilities that he could inflict more than just ordinary pain on some of these interior defensive lineman. They were right.

In 2019 Chandler won the starting left guard role and got to play alongside a master blaster on the end in Mekhi Becton who cleaned up messes and tossed bodies like he was a part time lover of all things violent. With the help of Becton more and more folks started noticing just how solid Chandler was on that side of the line as well (that’s what friends are for) and his name started getting tossed around by even non O-line obsessors like myself. So how do you follow that up in 2020 with Becton no longer in the mix? Surely, we see a drop off, right? I wasn’t really expecting anything that knocks me off my feet in terms of performance, but for once in my life, I would be wrong.

Chandler came out in the shortened season and not only played in all 10 games but started all 10 as well. It’s like he has a superstition against coming off the bench because my man has trotted out there on the first play for twenty-three straight games at left guard and has performed as an All-ACC caliber player living for the city name across his chest and representing the Cards at a national level. A couple publications have highlighted Chandler, including Phil Stele, as a preseason All-ACC lineman. While Chandler came in playing a bit of a support role to the NFL-caliber talent of Becton this season he will be playing his third straight year with a new partner in crime next to him a tackle as Trevor Reid is the new projected starter replacing Adonis Boone, is who is projected to slide over to right guard. Chandler (officially a RS Junior) is one of the upperclassmen who has significant experience on the line and one of the big reasons I think this group is going to be great in 2021.

Sweet Tweet:

Candler has his tweets protected so that I can’t see what he is tweeting out. You know who else can’t see it? One Mr. Stevie Wonder. No, that’s not a cheap shot a blind man, it’s the intro to the annual ‘Hidden Song Title’ challenge. This year you can find hidden song titles from, you guessed it, the masterful Stevie Wonder. Some are solo hits, some are collaborations, but all of them are hidden above. How many you may ask are nestled in the post above..5, 6,….how about SIXTEEN of them bad boys all up in Chandlers mix. As per usual, give it a shot without the Google machine but if you hit a roadblock everything is free game. Winner is first one in the comments with all titles listed. I’ll let it run for awhile so keep entering your answers in case folks above you messed up. Winner gets 2,021 Chron Points and something a little special from me. Appreciate the participation, lets get it!