Brandon Chatmon, LB Imhotep Charter HS

By, Matt Alkire

 

 

Three years ago at the New Level Athletics 7-on-7 passing tournament tryouts there were over 300 players in Conshohocken, Pa., jockeying for a spot on the prestigious Pennsylvania team. Players from all over Philadelphia, Montgomery, Chester, Berks, Bucks and Lancaster Counties were in attendance. While I was watching some of the nation’s best perform, young players were standing out to me above the 300. Players like David Williams, Justin Moody and Brandon Chatmon were just babies then, but they made their presence known.

 

By the end of the tryout, I had identified those three as my top players for the future of Philadelphia Football. Williams has since picked up over 40 offers and will make his commitment soon and Moody will also make an FBS selection. Chatmon was electric that day wearing the number 187 on his back. It was quite fitting given that any quarterback that threw near the linebacker had his passes picked off or knocked away. Chatmon showed great coverage awareness, nimble feet and great hands for a defensive player. Fast forward to 2012 however and his recruiting picture is not the same as the other two athletes.

 

Brandon Chatmon had a fine tenure at Cardinal O’Hara High School in Springfield, Pa., under legendary coach Dan Algeo and continued his ways in the coverage game. When scouting Florida commitment Skyler Mornhinweg at quarterback, I watched Chatmon read and knock down five of the passes he threw in that game alone, only dropping some of them due to wet weather. You see, Chatmon has always been a complete linebacker however at O’Hara he was heralded for his coverage ability. He was new to the middle linebacker position and learning his keys for Coach Dan Algeo against the run having been used to playing on the outside.

 

During his junior season Chatmon was offered a scholarship by the University of Pittsburgh under Head Coach Todd Graham. His stock was rising quickly and the 6-foot, 215-pound linebacker was soon to be on the same path as Justin Moody. However his grades suddenly dropped and Todd Graham left Pittsburgh. Shortly after leaving O’Hara, Chatmon also found out he would not retain his offer to Pitt under the new regime there.

Between the changing of schools, the loss of an offer and a drop in grades – Chatmon was flung from the recruiting slalom that everyone else at his level was riding.

 

 

After careful consideration, his father Kalvin chose to send him to Imhotep Charter in Philadelphia, a school known for discipline, academic excellence and honor.

“Academically at O’Hara I let an offer from Pittsburgh go to my mind to be completely honest,” Chatmon stated. “When I saw my grades it was shocking. It just humbled me and put me back in my place. Looking back I was walking around with this mindset that I had it made and I know now that I was being naïve. Then colleges would come by and want to offer, but flat out told me they couldn’t because of my grades. I put myself in a bad situation.”

 

“The move to Imhotep didn’t really change a lot because my mindset had already gotten put in the right place, but there are a lot of players that are like-minded there and care about their future,” Chatmon said. “My first quarter at Imhotep I was immediately putting up Bs across the boards and the coaches were still on me to get better. We have mandatory study halls two hours before everyone else in school has to be there every single day and the coaches are on me every single day. Don’t get me wrong, Coach (Dan) Algeo did the same thing, but I just wasn’t listening back then. I’ve just grown to understand and appreciate the importance of things now.”

 

For the record, Chatmon now carries a 2.7 core GPA and his SAT score has risen to a 980. By the end of the school year his core GPA could certainly rise above a 3.0 again as it once was.

This was never a matter of a young man not being able to do the work, but one that simply let some early success in recruiting go to his head. Unfortunately, such is the case with schools offering sophomores.

Chatmon did switch from middle linebacker to strong side linebacker at Imhotep as well this season and his game certainly improved. He improved on many things this season including tackling through the ball and reading keys before the play, becoming a more instinctual player off the edge. This was most evident when teams started to quickly run the ball away from him after the first few games of the season for Imhotep.

 

The Panthers had an excellent season as a team, coasting through the Philadelphia Public League like a hot knife through butter. With Chatmon as a team captain, the defense gave up only 43 points in ten regular season games. Most of those games were blowouts, so many of those points were put up against backups as well.

 

“I felt so much better playing on the outside because that’s where I’ve always been taught to play and where my skill set fits,” Chatmon explained. “It gave me the ability to play within the system, read the play and do things like intercept passes, break up passes and play like a safety like everyone always says I play like (writer’s note: that is his reputation). The other thing I did was played the run much better this year and was able to make some plays hitting people. My defensive line was great and I give them a ton of credit. I worked out with Tra Thomas (Philadelphia Eagles) in the offseason a lot and that helped me a lot with my read and react skills as a senior.”

 

Chatmon did make drastic improvement this season and when he gets into college with a solid linebackers’ coach, he really has a ton of upside.

 

As for Imhotep, they made a State Championship run this season which was halted just this past weekend by the Wyomissing Spartans in the Final Four. The season ended at 14-1 for the Panthers, but it was still a great accomplishment as Philadelphia Public League schools do not represent the city in the state playoffs often.

 

“It was just a really exciting season and I’ve never played for anything as big as a state championship in my entire life. We got to go out all over the state and play under lights in big atmospheres and I loved it. I’ll never forget this year for my entire life. Just going out every week with guys like Dave Williams and the rest of my guys on this team was the best time of my life. If I could go back in time and redo training camp and the whole thing over and over again I would. It was awesome.”

 

 

Next up is recruiting for Chatmon where he’s getting interest from both FBS and I-AA schools at this point. It’s a bit of a mix for the young man and this time around he’s more focused on getting it right.

“Right now I’m just looking for a home basically,” Chatmon offered. “Somewhere that I can thrive academically and also form a new family with. I want to find a school where I know I fit in with the people there as well as they do with me. A lot of kids go out looking for that winning football program or top-shelf school and I know wherever I go I’m going to help that team win, so that’s secondary right now. I just want to find a new home. Then I’ll focus on winning football games.”

 

This time around Chatmon will be looking around in the right state of mind and what once could have been Pittsburgh’s gain will be another school’s.

 

As a senior, Chatmon had 73 tackles, 10 pass breakups, six sacks, five forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, two interceptions and one defensive touchdown.