In a roundabout way, the evolution of the receiver position can be credited to Dow Corning pioneer James Hyde.
Unless you prefer to credit General Electric chemist Eugene Rochow.
Those two men had other things in mind when they did their groundbreaking work with silicone. Along with so many other facets of American industry — and yes, a certain enhancing medical procedure — silicone eventually made its way into those gloves you see every football receiver wearing these days, even in the hot, early days of the season.
“I’ll say this with all due respect, having played that position, back in the day we didn’t have as many players using gloves — the ‘stickies,’” Wes Chandler says by phone from California.
Most of us either watched live or a replay of Omar Cooper Jr.’s amazing catch that kept Indiana unbeaten last Saturday. Truly a catch for the ages, replacing one from the previous week, and standing atop the heap only until someone tops it this week, most likely.
Why have these things become so commonplace? Seeking some input, Wes Chandler was dialed. He’s among the best receivers many of us have seen, and damn sure the best among my contacts. While expecting a dissertation on new training methods or practice regimens, instead I got a fashion statement.
“It’s now the gloves doing all the work, for the most part,” Chandler said. “Granted, there’s an art to receiving. Let me be clear, there’s an art to it.”
You get the same answer when asking about the modern trend (fad?) of one-handed catches, even when occasionally unnecessary — except you’re guaranteed a co-starring role on that night’s highlight reel.
“Gonna tell you why you see so many,” Chandler says. “The material they’re using on the end of those five fingers is a difference maker.”
He doesn’t come off the least bit bitter about it, because he says it’s all relative. He could use what was available in his day. Others today do the same.
Chandler’s receiving career took him from New Smyrna Beach High to the Florida Gators to the NFL, where most of his best work came from 1981-87 with the “Air Coryell”-powered San Diego Chargers. First-team All SEC twice at Florida, College Football Hall of Famer and four-time Pro Bowl selection. Receivers coach for four NFL teams and two college programs.
Along the way, he taught the “art” in a way that may sound odd — “You catch with your eyes, not your hands,” he says.
“You see it hit your hands, and then you tuck it away. Once you secure the catch, now it’s a sense of feel” — particularly when straddling the out-of-bounds line, he says.
Chandler recalls improving the feel part of receiving with two years of ballet classes when he first got to San Diego. Feel is natural to some, coached to the others. Others become defensive backs instead.
“Until the catch is made, nothing else matters,” Chandler says. “Once it’s secure, you have to have that sense of feel, and that’s through practice. You practice and you practice and you know where you are on that boundary.”
Now that the catch has become more routine, there’s more of the Omar Cooper-caliber ballet, and here’s where we return to James Hyde and Eugene Rochow. Hyde was known as the father of silicones for his work in the 1930s. His work led to the merger of Dow Chemical and Corning Glass.
Rochow, later in the century, developed a way to produce silicone at an industrial scale. And that’s why you can go to Dick’s Sporting Goods and buy Junior a pair of gloves that’ll make him fit in with the other receivers on the Pop Warner team.
A generation ago, silicone was still working its way through the hardware aisles. Receivers, when they wanted gloves, wore baseball batting gloves. Sometimes it was just tape on the fingers — “especially in the cold, because those football laces would tear up your fingers,” Chandler says.
Some slathered on the Stickum, a thick goo that acted as fly paper to footballs. The most famous Stickum adherent was Oakland’s Fred Belitnikoff, who Chandler calls the best sideline toe-tapping receiver of his era. But it came at a logistical cost, as Chandler learned after physical brushes with defensive backs coated in the stuff.
“Once it got on you, my Lord … grass, dirt, gravel, everything was clinging to you,” he says.
Later, the only way to remove it was with turpentine. The NFL outlawed it in 1981, against the wishes of the turpentine lobby, no doubt.
Rank & File: USF, Miami top Florida college football rankings
The weekly ranking of Florida’s seven big-league college football programs, based on results versus expectations, current trends, and coded info gleaned between the lines of Warren Buffett’s latest letter to investors …
1. USF Bulls (7-2). Last week: (1) beat UTSA, 55-23. This week: at Navy. FYI: USF’s rush defense is underwhelming. For many years, and quite ironically if you ask me, Navy has possessed a strong ground game. Bulls close with UAB and Rice, so a 10-win regular season is possible-to-likely if they survive this one. But it’s hard to imagine Navy losing three straight, so we won’t. The pick: Midshipmen 29, Bulls 26.
2. Miami Hurricanes (7-2). Last week: beat Syracuse, 38-10. This week: N.C. State at home. FYI: Miami is destined to finish 9-3 which means a loss among these last three weeks. It won’t come this week at home against one of those dime-a-dozen middlin’ ACC teams. The pick: ’Canes 38, Wolfpack 20.
3. FAU Owls (4-5). Last week: (6) beat Tulsa, 40-21. This week: at Tulane. FYI: Two more wins and the Owls get to six and return to a bowl game for the first time in five years. UConn and E. Carolina follow this one, and that’s too bad for the Owls. While standards have slipped, you’re unlikely to see a four-win team go bowling. The pick: Green Wave 38, Owls 30.
4. FIU Panthers (4-5). Last week: (7) beat Middle Tennessee, 56-30. This week: Liberty at home. FYI: FIU will lose next week (Jax State) before winning the finale (Sam Houston), so the Owls are guaranteed (* terms vary) to end that three-year streak of four-win seasons. This week determines if they’ll land on six wins and get a bowler’s chance for a seventh. They’re catching Liberty in a down year by Liberty standards. The pick: Panthers 27, Flames 23.
5. FSU Seminoles (4-5). Last week: (3) lost to Clemson, 24-10. This week: Virginia Tech at home. FYI: Oh my. Did you see Mike Norvell’s presser from Monday? Mercy. Along the way, he reminded everyone of FSU’s 2023 conference title and said others are coming. “That might piss people off. So be it,” he said. Not sure where angry defiance lands on the seven stages of a coaching downfall, but we’ve now clanked upon that 2×4 on the downstairs trip. The pick: ’Noles 23, Hokies 20.
6. UCF Knights (4-5). Last week: (5) lost to Houston, 30-27. This week: at Texas Tech. FYI: Tech’s last 10-win season was 17 years ago, and that one was its first since 49 years ago. Ten-win seasons don’t grow on trees out there, which is fine because you can’t find a tree in Lubbock. So they went into the ground, found some thick NIL flows of Texas Tea, and looky here, a 10th win is at hand for the ol’ Matadors. The pick: Red Raiders 40, Knights 13.
7. Florida Gators (3-6). Last week: (4) lost to Kentucky, 38-7. This week: at Ole Miss. FYI: We all had to check the fine print when UF’s Interim Ball Coach Billy Gonzales said the following: “We’ve got a chance to finish with a winning season.” Dang if he ain’t right. Win the next three then win one of those bowl games no one watches, and whaddaya know, the Gators are 7-6. You on board? I didn’t think so. The pick: Rebels 39, Gators 11.
Other College Football Picks
Pigskinned Pilgrims nationwide, from Pullman to Landover, from Green Bay to Tuscaloosa — yep, college and pro fans alike — please join in prayer with all who wish with all of their hearts’ desires, and let’s make this happen.
Please, dearest of Football Gods, make Bill Belichick the next coach of the New York Giants. But only with an addendum, namely Jordon Hudson. If the 20-something girlfriend isn’t part of the deal, why waste the time of those Gotham-level paparazzi?
True, things aren’t going well with the Raiders and 74-year-old comeback kid Pete Carroll, but Belichick is a whopping seven months younger than Pete. And he’s probably shed spiritual years by hanging around with the college crowd in Chapel Hill, and did we mention his Gen Z roommate?
Why do we need this? For moments like this week, when Bill brought back memories of his repetitive, glorious and pitch-perfect retort — “We’re on to Cincinnati” — after a particularly rough week for the Patriots 11 years ago.
This week he was naturally asked about the Giants chatter. And did he disappoint? Oh, come on.
“Getting ready for Wake Forest. That’s all I got this week.”
Really, that’s all? Well, not really.
“I’ve been asked about it from time to time, but … look, I’ve been down this road before. I’m focused on Wake Forest, that’s it. Next week it’ll be to our next opponent, and so forth.”
NEXT OPPONENT? That would be DUKE. Remember a few months back when Belichick was hired and swore his first words, as a solemn toddler, were “Beat Duke?”
No kidding, he said that. His dad Steve was a North Carolina assistant and that memory remains, 70-some years later. And now he doesn’t know Duke is coming up in nine days?
I like the way this is trending, and hopefully the Giants are on board. And not that it matters in the grand scheme, but this is still a results business — Heels over Wake by 6.
ELSEWHERE: Louisville wallops Clemson; Oregon does the same to Minnesota; Hoosiers pour it On Wisconsin; Texas A&M survives S. Carolina by 6; Notre Dame probably beats Pitt, but man, this looks dangerous; Bama kinda big over Boomer; Duke upsets UVA; Tech big over BC; USC beats Iowa in OT; Utah by a bunch over Baylor; Ohio State by a bigger bunch over UCLA; Dawgs by just 2 over Horns; BYU beats TCU; and the Tigers of Ouachita Baptist, at home over the Henderson State Reddies, who are damn near also at home in Southwest Arkansas.
BTW: The two schools sit literally across the street from each other in Arkadelphia. Nothing but four lanes of Highway 67 separate them. They call it the “Battle of the Ravine” because a narrow gully runs through both campuses, and they call it a battle because that’s what rivals do. As for alumni, Ouachita boasts Hall of Famer Cliff Harris, long-ago Dallas Cowboy great, while Henderson State counters with Gus Malzahn and, for a few months in the ’70s, Billy Bob Thornton.
BTW II: Both schools are part of the D-II Great American Conference, where schools seem to have borrowed branding advice from Minor League Baseball. The conference includes the Southern Arkansas Muleriders, Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys, S.E. Oklahoma State Savage Storm and Arkansas-Monticello Boll Weevils. Also, there’s the Bison (Oklahoma Baptist) and Bisons (Harding U.). Mr. Webster favors Bison but doesn’t necessarily scold those who add the S.
— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: How do NFL and college football receivers keep making ridiculous catches? Ask Wes Chandler
Reporting by Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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