Dec. 10, 2020
PITTSBURGH -- Before Chase Claypool scored four touchdowns in a single football game, he scored 10.
And he probably would have scored more in that game if Khul Sanghera hadn't limited his touches.
"He didn't touch the ball a lot, but when he did, he made the best of it," said Sanghera, who coached Claypool for six seasons in the community football league in Abbotsford, British Columbia. "He gave everything, every drop of Chase that game. That was special."
To keep other players -- and their parents -- happy, Sanghera had to walk a fine line between managing and developing the Pittsburgh Steelers' future second-round pick and showing good sportsmanship to his own team and opponents.
But when the 10-year-old Claypool got the ball in his hands, things just happened. He couldn't help it
"The plan was not for him to score 10 touchdowns," his mom, Jasmine, said. "The plan was for him to get a first down so we could keep driving down the field. There were other players that were on the field. It's not like he was the only player on the field. But they'd throw to him in those critical situations at third or fourth down, and he'd score a touchdown. It wasn't intentional: 'Hey we're going to rub your nose in all these touchdowns.' You're not going to tell him, 'Don't score. Just get the first down.'"
Like Sanghera's game plan, the Steelers are still targeting Claypool on third down, and even though the difficulty level has increased tenfold, he's still scoring touchdowns. Last Sunday, in just his fourth game in the NFL, Claypool, 22, scored four touchdowns against the Philadelphia Eagles, two of which came on third-and-long. He might have had another too, if not for an offensive pass interference call. Even so, he was the first rookie in NFL history to catch three touchdown passes and run for another.
"It brought us back to that game," said Jacob Carvery, 27, Claypool's stepbrother, of watching Sunday's four-touchdown performance. "He's making this look so easy."