By Chandler Catanzaro.
By Will Vandervort
CLEMSON — Chandler Catanzaro was a jack of all trades and master of none for much of his high school career, or so he thought. When he was in the seventh and eighth grades, this one-time soccer player kicked extra points for his junior varsity football team at Christ Church High School in nearby Greenville, S.C.
But basketball was his first love, and Catanzaro quit the football program before his freshman year to concentrate more on his basketball game. Though basketball was going well as he became the squad’s leading scorer as a sophomore, he missed playing football so as a junior he returned to the gridiron where he played cornerback and wide receiver.
But something was still missing. Then one afternoon after practice, he set a football up at the 25-yard line and kicked it right through the uprights.
Everything felt good. Kicking a football seemed natural. So he backed the football up 10 more yards, and again he was true. Then he backed up it five more yards, and again nailed it, this time from 50 yards out.
“This is what I need to be doing,” Catanzaro thought at the time. “It kind of just went from there.”
Things quickly took off. Catanzaro went on to make 11 of 13 field goals that season, including one from 43 yards as he was named the Class A Kicker of the Year in South Carolina. During his senior season, he continued to get better as he made field goals of 51 and 52 yards to set school records on his way to being named the Class A Specialist of the Year.
Though he was a late bloomer, he was starting to get noticed as a placekicker and ultimately his favorite school offered him an opportunity to walk-on and compete for the starting job, and Catanzaro was more than willing to accept Clemson’s offer.
“I remember telling Coach (Dabo) Swinney when he gave me the opportunity that I came here to set records,” the junior said. “I came here to make a difference and to leave a legacy and that is what I’m trying to do.”
And that’s exactly what he has done to this point. Catanzaro has become one of the best kickers in Clemson history and he still has possibly another year-and-half to break just about every record. He already owns one, breaking Obed Ariri’s record of 14 consecutive field goals made, which stood at Clemson for 32 years.
Ironically, his teammate, Spencer Benton, broke Ariri’s record for the longest kick in Clemson history when he made a 61-yard field goal against Furman on Sept. 15. That kick also set a new ACC record. It also marked the first time in Clemson history that two different kickers made a field goal of at least 50 yards in the same season.
Clemson is also the only school in the country this year that can stake that claim.
“We didn’t plan it, but it is cool how it worked out that way,” Catanzaro said. “I want to apologize to Obed. We didn’t mean to break both his records. I heard he was an awesome kicker.”
Ariri was. He was a First-Team All-American in 1980 after leading the nation with 23 field goals, including 18 of 19 from inside 40 yards. He began a legacy of All-American kickers at Clemson that extended to Donald Igwebuike, David Treadwell, Chris Gardocki and Nelson Welch. Treadwell was a consensus All-American in 1987, and is considered by some to be the best the school as ever had.
“You hear about them. They were excellent kickers and had great careers here,” Catanzaro said. “I just did not want to come in here and be another kicker.
“I just set a cool record, but I’m not satisfied. It does not stop here.”
What made it even cooler was the fact he made his 15th consecutive field goal with a 50-yard attempt, which gave the 17th-ranked Tigers a 31-21 lead at the time on No. 4 Florida State. The way the streak started was cool too because it began with a 43-yard field goal as time expired to beat Wake Forest last November, clinching the ACC’s Atlantic Division title.
“That’s my pinnacle and it is kind of cool that I have not missed since that kick,” Catanzaro said. “That kick started my record-setting streak.”
But Catanzaro hasn’t always been this accurate. As a freshman, he missed a 32-yard field goal wide left in an overtime loss at Auburn. Later that season at Boston College, where the Tigers will be on Saturday, he missed two field goals in a 16-10 loss to the Eagles.
“It was tough to kick after the Auburn game,” the junior said. “It was one of the lowest points in my life. I was in tears in the locker room. It was very tough for me. I was disappointed. I felt like I let the team down.
“It was an opportunity that I felt like I should have taken advantage of.”
But if he had to do it over again, Catanzaro said he would not change a thing.
“That kick, I think God put that adversity in my life to help me grow stronger as a person and especially as a kicker,” he said. “That propelled me into what I have become today. I wouldn’t change any of that if I could.
“God is working in a huge way in my life and it is fun to see what his plan is for me right now. It is definitely a blessing so all the glory goes to God.”
Since the Boston College game in 2010, Catanzaro has become a different kicker and by his own admission, a different man. With the support of his family, he went back out there and faced adversity and made a kick that lifted his squad to an ACC Championship.
Back in the day at Clemson, Treadwell was called “Mr. Clutch” because he hit so many game-winning or game-tying kicks in the final seconds. If things keep going right, Catanzaro might be called “Mr. Accurate.” He is now 3-for-3 on field goals of 40 yards or more this year and is 18 of 24 for his career. That is a 75 percent rate, which is the best in Clemson history.
“I’m a much confident kicker right now and it helps to have a pretty good support team in (long snapper) Michael Sobeski and (holder) Spencer Benton. They are pretty much money.”
And that’s a good thing for Clemson because its kicker is money in the bank.