I still remember the first time I saw Chandler play. Union-Endicott played Henninger in an intersectional battle of NYS football powers. The game was televised live on Time Warner. I believe Chandler was a junior. It was probably in 2006.
His brother Arthur was already on the Syracuse team by then and was very highly thought of. Chandler was already 6’4 or 6’5 but very skinny. Maybe 215 pounds. I believe he wore 44. I don’t think he had any offers and I think the general feeling was that he was not as good of a prospect as his brother and might not be strong enough to play D1 football.
He got pushed around some but his speed and athletic ability was evident throughout the game. He dominated big parts of the game and it was clear he was going to be a D1 football player. It was a great day when he verbaled to Syracuse. I wonder who owns the rights to those old high school football games? It was be great to play that game again, and lots of other ones televised over the years. Too bad Spectrum wrecked things so badly once they took over. What an awful company.
I remember years later, I went to a bar in Baldwinsville (The Lake Effect maybe?) to watch Syracuse play an away football game with some friends. I know
GoSU96 was there. I think Bees went. Not sure who else.
Not sure who we were playing. Might have been Cincinnati. Might have been the game that was really close that they won with that fake run, jump pass to their TE. Doesn’t matter. The thing that stuck out about that game was that we were in the middle of nowhere. This bar was off the beaten path. And who do we see all by himself in a corner of the bar, quietly watching the game? Chandler Jones. He had some injuries while he was at Syracuse. This was one of those games he was out for and he ended up watching the game, kind of with us. I don’t think any of us talked to him or even acknowledged that we knew who he was. Cause we are jaded, not impressed by future all pro celebrity types.
On a related note, this means at least one Syracuse player, and often more than one, has been every NFL All Decade team since the 1950s, except for the 1970a. Now, in the 1970s, almost everyone played with a fullback. If they made that team with a fullback, like they should have, Larry Csonka would be the starter and we would have every decade.