From hoops to Hall of Fame: Gates' unique NFL journey to Canton

Antonio Gates thought his path to a Hall of Fame career would have been in basketball.

Instead, he became one of the best tight ends in NFL history.

Gates will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, getting elected to Canton without playing college football.

He played his entire 16-year career for the Bolts and finished with 116 receiving touchdowns, the most by a tight end in NFL history.

“My journey was probably the most unique journey in all of football because I came in as a former basketball player, not knowing what to expect,” Gates said. “Some of those guys who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, they wanted to be Pro Football Hall of Famers when they were 14 years old. I wanted to play in the NBA. That was my dream. Like I said, I still haven’t wrapped my head around it all.”

Gates played both football and basketball during high school at Detroit Central. Nick Saban recruited Gates to play football at Michigan State, but he didn’t play as a freshman. Gates also wanted to play basketball, but Saban disagreed.

Gates transferred to Eastern Michigan, then to two junior colleges, and eventually to Kent State. It was at Kent State that Gates reached national prominence. He led the Golden Flashes to the Elite Eight in the 2002 NCAA Tournament as a junior and an Associated Press All-America honorable mention selection as a senior after averaging 20.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.

Even though Gates was convinced he would get drafted in the NBA, at 6-foot-4, scouts saw him as an undersized post player. However, Tim Brewster, who was the Chargers’ tight ends coach in 2003, saw in Gates the size and speed that he thought would make him a great tight end.

Brewster saw Gates during a private workout and immediately began making his pitch to Marty Schottenheimer and the Chargers’ front office to sign him as a free agent.

“A lot of people like to take credit, but Tim is the number one reason why I am in the Hall of Fame,” Gates said. “He found me, believed what I could become, and was around me constantly. He really got me into a position where I look up, and I was All-Pro my second year in the field.”

After having 24 receptions for 389 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie, Gates had a career-high 13 touchdowns in 2004 en route to the first of three straight Associated Press All-Pro honors and eight consecutive trips to the Pro Bowl. He also had 81 catches for 964 yards.

Even though he was catching a lot of passes, Gates’ route-running didn’t always get high marks from coaches.

“What I was doing as a rookie and in my second year was considered nontraditional. I would play well, but grade out bad because I creating a lane. And unfortunately, when you’re creating something that’s never been done or seen, it gets scrutinized. I would use my instinct to make the play.”

Many of the things that Gates did with shape routes, pivot routes over the ball and tight ends releasing at the line of scrimmage are commonplace today with Kansas City’s Travis Kelce and San Francisco’s George Kittle. Gates utilized his basketball skills on the football field, as catching the ball at its highest point is similar to rebounding in the paint, as well as boxing out on the hardwood and trying to get open against a defensive back.

Gates might have been outsized as a power forward, but he had an advantage going up against defensive backs who often were smaller than he was.

Gates’ career flourished under Norv Turner, the Chargers coach from 2007 through ’12. Turner lined Gates up in different spots and also used more two tight end sets. Gates’ route-running also improved under Turner and with Philip Rivers as the quarterback.

“He had to win on his route-running and his ability to separate and his understanding of coverages and all those things. Philip is as good a passer as there’s been in a long time, but Philip wasn’t going to move around and make a lot of plays off schedule,” Turner said.

Gates finished with 955 receptions for 11,841 yards. He had 21 multi-touchdown games, the most among tight ends.

Of his 116 touchdowns, 39 came on third down, which is tied for third all time.

He had eight seasons with at least eight touchdowns and was a member of the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 2000s.

Gates said the biggest thing he is looking forward to is being able to thank the people who helped him get to Canton.

“I’ve always been in a space where from a popularity standpoint, people know my name. It’s my chance to thank everyone else,” he said. “Although you are the face and the focus point, it’s truly not about you. You’re letting everybody understand what it took to get to this point and who were influential.”

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