Timmy’s Road to the NFL
January 21, 2005
Last week began a new chapter in the exciting football career of Timmy Chang. While Chang has a following in Hawai‘i and in the Bay Area’s Asian Pacific American community, now he needs to impress a whole new group.
The scouts and recruiters of professional football.
On Jan. 15, Chang played in the 80th East West Shrine Game at SBC Park in front of many fans who had only seen his exploits on television. Unfortunately for Chang and the West squad, the game was dominated by the East. While none of the West’s quarterbacks had particularly impressive numbers, Chang had limited playing time.
Chang was just 7-of-20 for 81 yards, but with less than two minutes remaining, he guided the West down the field for one last scoring attempt. His longest completion on that drive was a 36-yard pass to his favorite wide receiver, teammate Chad Owens from Hawai‘i. On 3rd and goal from the six-yard line, he threw a pass that would have been a touchdown to Stephen Spach, but the officials didn’t call what should have been a holding penalty against the East.
At Hawai‘i, coach June Jones employs a run-and-shoot offense where Chang takes every snap from the shotgun and throws to four wide receivers. That means Chang throws the ball on every down and takes the ball about three yards behind the center. In the NFL, Chang will have to adjust to taking snaps directly behind the center and throw to a tight end, the player who catches passes thrown up the middle of the field.
“I’ve got to get used to throwing to a tight end,” Chang said. “I’m not going to be in the four-receiver set all the time so it’s something I’ve got to get used to especially if I want to go to the next level and have an opportunity.”
Chang’s next opportunity will be the Hula Bowl in Maui on Jan. 22. Following that game, Chang will participate in the NFL combine from Feb. 23 to March 1 in Indianapolis.
Dan Shonka is the general manager for Ourlads’ Scouting Service and a 16-year NFL scouting veteran with the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins and the Kansas City Chiefs. Shonka gave this assessment of the weeks ahead for Chang.
“This (Shrine) game is only one piece of the puzzle,” Shonka said. “His career at Hawai‘i is another piece of the puzzle. When he’ll go to the combine, that’ll be another piece of the puzzle. At the combine, they’ll take a lot of pictures of him, different angles with cameras and ask him to make a certain throw that he’ll only do in the pros — and if he can make those throws, he’ll be in the mix. If he’s just lacking a little arm strength … that deep out cut from the far hash (mark) or a big route where they have him going away from the flow … there’s different stuff that they’ll have him throw to see what he can do. If he can make those throws, I’m sure he’ll have a good chance of getting drafted; if he doesn’t make them, he’ll be a priority free agent.”
Shonka also compares Chang to Ty Detmer, the man whose passing record was broken by Chang. Detmer was a star at Brigham Young and is a 12-year NFL veteran. Shonka thinks Chang might be a second or third quarterback like Detmer and that he may get his chance to be a starter in about five years.
Chang has many options to play professional football. Besides the NFL, there’s NFL Europe, the Canadian Football League and the Arena Football League.
Quarterbacks like Jeff Garcia and Kurt Warner got their starts in the CFL and the Arena league and became stars in the NFL. With continued hard work, Chang could be next.
“It’s a big time right now, a very crucial and important time to showcase what you can do,” Chang said.
Ryan Leong covers all the local teams and is a Bay Area correspondent for ESPN Radio.
Comments
Got something to say?