PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pirates first player to commit to playing for them is giving up playing quarterback at one of the best football programs in the nation.
“Growing up, my dream was to be a Major League baseball player,” Bubba Chandler said Tuesday. “I couldn’t pass on an opportunity like this. You never know if I went to Clemson in 3 or 4 years would the same opportunity present itself? You never know. I took the safer route.”
Chandler had already spent a couple of weeks with the Tigers football team getting ready for the 2021 season. He’s giving that up knowing Clemson’s last QB went number one in the NFL Draft, knowing he was passing on a free education. He walked into two-time national championship coach Dabo Swinney’s office to tell him on Monday.
“He said to listen to God, follow your heart,” Chandler said. “He wasn’t mad about anything. He said ‘Bubba Chandler, I freakin’ love you kid. You are going to do great’. He said if you ever want a spot here again, your jersey is going to be open. That made me feel a lot better”
Chandler said they talked for about 20 minutes and said he loved his brief time around the program. He also came to a realization of what life as a Division 1 football and baseball player would be like.
“Playing two sports in college is really hard,” Chandler said. “It’s hard on your body. Especially playing football, because football is a really physical sport. I took the safe route. This is pretty much what I wanted to do. I always wanted to be a high draft pick.”
“Football is a sport I grew up with, my family played it. I played with all of my best friends. That’s where I met all of my buddies. I’m going to miss it, but at the same time you have to let stuff go in life. That is something I’m probably going to have to let go.”
Chandler said he’s also talked with Penn State football and baseball commit Lonnie White, Junior, the Pirates second round pick. Sounds like White could make the same decision.
“We are good friends,” Chandler said. “We talked a bunch about it. We are just really stoked about it.”
Chandler doesn’t know a lot about the Pirates, other than he uses PNC Park as his home on the video game ‘MLB The Show’. He also is a fan of Andrew McCutchen.
He knew the Bucs were good a few years ago. Now he wants to be part of them being good again.
“I’ve always seen myself as a baseball guy,” Chandler said. “My dad when we were younger, he built me a baseball field in my backyard. We actually called it ‘Baby Turner Field’ because we were big Braves fans growing up.”
“I wasn’t good at baseball at a younger age, 9-10 years old. I wanted to get good because that’s what my dad played. I committed myself to it. Every day for probably about three years, I would be there after school, early in the morning and my dad would be hitting me ground balls, throwing me batting practice.”
“That’s (transformed) to me being the person and player I am today.”
“I’ve always seen myself being a baseball player. Just trying to be the next Chipper Jones.”
OK, Pittsburgh fans can handle that. He’s not trying to be the next Trevor Lawrence.