Note: this post has been updated from the print version to reflect the most accurate 2015 stats, which have changed since press time.
At 8 a.m. on a Friday morning, T.J. Chase stands tall in front of a packed Plant City High School auditorium. He and his teammates, all seated in the middle rows, couldn’t be happier to be wearing their jerseys on a game day.
But Chase’s jersey is different. It’s navy blue, purely for ceremony, and was just awarded to him by representatives from the Semper Fi All-American Bowl. The senior rises from his seat and slips the jersey onto his 6-foot-3 frame as the football players, students and faculty members in the crowd erupt in unison.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Chase said. “It was just good, doing my presentation in front of my true friends and teammates.”
It may be the crown jewel on his stellar career, and the game hasn’t even happened yet.
DUE UP
Chase isn’t the first Raider to earn Semper Fi All-American honors — 2013 graduate Montel McBride has also played in the game. But Chase may have the most decorated career of the two, partly because McBride broke out late in his career, and partly because Chase was in the recruiting spotlight as a sophomore.
With senior Landon Galloway throwing the ball, Chase averaged more than 20 yards per catch as a sophomore and scored four touchdowns, helping the Raiders to a 9-4 record and a playoff appearance. As a defensive back, he recorded three picks for 117 yards and one touchdown and 43 tackles.
Scouts noticed his talent in games and during summer football camps, and Chase’s name appeared on many national publications’ lists of wideouts to watch. He received about 40 college scholarship offers, many of them from NCAA Division I schools, before settling on Clemson — the current No. 1 team in the country and a program with a habit of seeing its wideouts go early in the NFL Draft.
He played his junior season in Chris Weinke’s spread offense at Bradenton-based IMG Academy, again averaging more than 20 yards per catch en route to a 512-yard, five-TD season at wideout. But he returned to Plant City for his senior season.
Statistically, it’s a bit of a down year for Chase on offense. He does have five touchdowns and an average of 23.2 yards per catch, but his 418 receiving yards do not lead the team. (junior Antoine Thompson, who wears Chase’s old jersey number 3, leads with 493 yards and 25.9 yards per catch.) On defense, the senior has 63 tackles and two picks for 48 yards.
But that’s not important, at least to Chase. When speaking to the audience about the senior’s career, head coach Greg Meyer said that Chase has a crafty way of explaining his performance to those who ask about it.
“He just tells them, ‘My stats are 8-1,’” Meyer said, referencing the team’s record.
Chase is proud of everything he has accomplished thus far but says the nomination may be at or near the top of his list of favorites.
“This is a great time to be alive right now,” Chase said. “It’s just a blessing.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
THE BIG GAME
The Semper Fi All-American Bowl will play its fifth annual game on Jan. 3, 2016, at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. It will begin at 6 p.m. PST, 9 p.m. EST. Chase is one of five players selected from Florida and, along with Georgia-based guard Sean Pollard, one of two who will play football at Clemson.