Antonio Gates
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This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2011) |
 Gates in June 2008 |
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No. 85 San Diego Chargers
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| Tight end | |||||||||
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Personal information
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| Date of birth: June 18, 1980 | |||||||||
| Place of birth: Detroit, Michigan | |||||||||
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Career information
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| College: Kent State | |||||||||
| Undrafted in 2003 | |||||||||
| Debuted in 2003 for the San Diego Chargers | |||||||||
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Career history
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Career highlights and awards
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Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2012
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Antonio Ethan Gates, Jr. (born June 18, 1980) is an American football tight end for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2003 after playing college basketball for Kent State University. He attended college at Kent State his junior and senior years after brief stints at Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University.[1]
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College career [edit]
After his senior season of high school basketball, Gates was named runner-up for the Mr. Basketball of Michigan award to Dane Fife.[2] Originally, Gates enrolled at Michigan State University wanting to play football under then-coach Nick Saban as well as basketball under coach Tom Izzo but upon enrolling Saban wanted him to play only football.[3] Gates then chose to pursue playing basketball by transferring to Eastern Michigan University to play basketball. He played there part of a season, subsequently played at two junior colleges and eventually played two seasons at Kent State University in northeastern Ohio.
As a Golden Flash, Gates played two seasons as power forward. His junior season he averaged 16.0 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game [4] His senior season he received Honorable Mention All-American Honors from the Associated Press after averaging 20.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per lok. His senior season his team won its first regular season Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship in school history after finishing the regular season with a 24-5 overall record with a 17-1 record in the MAC. Gates helped the Golden Flashes win their second consecutive MAC tournament and earn its resulting berth in the 2002 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament In the NCAA tournament he gave crucial performances that helped Kent State reach the Elite Eight as a 10 seed by upsetting 7 seed Oklahoma State (69-61), 2 seed Alabama (71-58) and 3 seed Pittsburgh (78-73). He finished with a record of 54-16 in two years of playing.[5]
His jersey number, 44 was retired on Feb 27, 2010 making him just the fourth Golden Flash to receive the honor. His parents names are Vanelia Gates and Henry Gates.
NFL career [edit]
San Diego Chargers [edit]
After being told by scouts that he was too much of a “tweener” to make the NBA, Gates (6′4″) arranged a workout in front of NFL scouts. As many as 19 teams were believed to have contacted Gates about a tryout. Gates chose to work out first for the San Diego Chargers. Recognizing his potential, the Chargers immediately signed him to a contract as an undrafted free agent.
After finishing a solid 2003 rookie season in which he caught 24 passes for 389 yards and two scores, he was picked by many experts to have a breakout season in 2004. That year, only his second season in the NFL, Gates became quarterback Drew Brees' favorite target, finishing the season with 81 receptions for 964 yards and 13 touchdowns. On December 19, Gates tied the NFL season record for touchdowns by a tight end (13) in a 21–0 win over the Cleveland Browns, and he went on to break that record in an overtime loss to the Indianapolis Colts on December 26. Gates was selected to the 2005 Pro Bowl and caught a TD pass from Colts' quarterback Peyton Manning to help the AFC to a 38–27 victory. Additionally, Gates was on the receiving end of a 33 yard pass from teammate Drew Brees in a flea-flicker play selected by fans online.
On August 23, 2005, after holding out for a contract extension, Gates inked a six-year deal worth up to $24 million with the San Diego Chargers. Because of his holdout, Gates was suspended for one game–the home opener against the Dallas Cowboys, a loss. Gates went on to have another stellar season, catching 89 passes for 1,101 yards and 10 touchdowns, but the Chargers missed the playoffs by a single win.
With the departure of Drew Brees during the offseason, it was assumed that Gates would suffer a decline in production in 2006, with first-year starter Philip Rivers at the helm. Gates had a relatively quiet start to the season, but he finished the year strongly and ended up with 924 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. He caught two touchdown passes on December 10 against Denver to help the Chargers clinch their division.
2008 [edit]
Gates said he was leaning toward having surgery to repair a dislocated left big toe that slowed his performance during the NFL 2008 Playoffs, but was undecided on whether to have surgery or not, "There is higher chance I'm going to have surgery". Gates also pulled out of his 5th Pro Bowl selection because of his injuries alongside his teammate LaDainian Tomlinson. Gates finished the season with 60 receptions for 704 yards and eight touchdowns.
On February 23, 2008, Gates said he would have foot surgery to fix the injury that has hurt him in the final part of the season. He would face a 4–6 month recovery time. He seemed questionable for Week 1 and even sounded worried about his status for the opening day of the 2008 season, however, he ended up playing every game despite complaints that his toe was bothering him during the first half of the season.
2009 [edit]
For the 2009 NFL regular season, Gates caught 79 passes for 1,157 yards and eight touchdowns. His 1,157 receiving yards is his career high. This is the year he also predicted more deaths to the 95 Chargers team.
2010 [edit]
Gates began the 2010 season by signing a lucrative 5-year $36 million contract with $20 million guaranteed. In the first nine games of the 2010 season, he had 40 receptions and 9 touchdowns.[6] Foot injuries slowed the second half of his season. He was invited to the 2011 Pro Bowl, the seventh consecutive year he was chosen as the AFC starter.[6]
2011 [edit]
Caught eight passes to move into third place on the team’s all-time receptions list with 537 in Week 1 against Minnesota...he passed LaDainian Tomlinson (530) for third place...gave the Chargers the 14-3 lead against the Jets in Week 7 with a two-yard touchdown catch early in the second quarter...it was his 70th-career TD catch making he and Atlanta’s Tony Gonzalez the only two tight ends in NFL history with at least 70 scoring catches...Gates finished the game with five catches (542 career) and moved past Kellen Winslow (541) for the second-most catches in team history...Caught a seven-yard pass on a 3rd-and-4 in the third quarter Week 13 against Jacksonville that moved him past Gary Garrison and into third on the team’s all-time receiving yardage list...Gates scored the Chargers’ first touchdown of the game Week 14 against Buffalo…he amassed 38 yards on the drive, passing Gary Garrison (7,562) for fourth on the team’s all-time list for career scrimmage yards…Gates finished the day with 7,606 career yards. Gates caught a second touchdown pass in the third quarter, the 75th of his career…he became the 27th player, and only the second tight end (Tony Gonzalez) in NFL history with 75 career touchdown catches. It was Gates’ 14th career multi-touchdown game and first of 2011...Gates became the Chargers’ all-time receptions leader on a six-yard catch on a 4th-and-5 early in the fourth quarter Week 16 against Detroit...it was his 587th career catch, surpassing Charlie Joiner’s 586.
Records and awards [edit]
- On October 3, 2010, Gates became the seventh tight end with 500 career receptions.
- In 2005 and 2006, Antonio Gates was selected as the NFL's All-Pro tight end.
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Regular season stats [edit]
| Receiving | ||||||
| Year | Team | G | Rec | Yards | Y/R | TD |
| 2003 | San Diego | 15 | 24 | 389 | 16.2 | 2 |
| 2004 | San Diego | 15 | 81 | 964 | 11.9 | 13 |
| 2005 | San Diego | 15 | 89 | 1101 | 12.4 | 10 |
| 2006 | San Diego | 16 | 71 | 924 | 13.0 | 9 |
| 2007 | San Diego | 16 | 75 | 984 | 13.1 | 9 |
| 2008 | San Diego | 16 | 60 | 704 | 11.7 | 8 |
| 2009 | San Diego | 16 | 79 | 1157 | 14.6 | 8 |
| 2010 | San Diego | 10 | 50 | 782 | 15.6 | 10 |
| 2011 | San Diego | 13 | 64 | 778 | 12.2 | 7 |
| 2012 | San Diego | 15 | 49 | 538 | 11.0 | 7 |
| Career | 147 | 642 | 8,321 | 13.0 | 83 | |
References [edit]
- ^ http://www.draftdaypicks.com/Antonio_Gates.html
- ^ http://www.peschstats.com/MrBasketball.htm
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=neumann/101215_antonio_gates_chargers_tight_end&sportCat=nfl
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=5443
- ^ http://www.kent.edu/news/newsdetail.cfm?customel_datapageid_9299=1935765
- ^ a b Jenkins, Chris (December 28, 2010). "Gates, Dielman, Rivers voted to Pro Bowl". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on January 31, 2011.
External links [edit]
- Official NFL Players' Page: Antonio Gates
- San Diego Chargers Player Bio: Antonio Gates
- Pro-Reference-Football.com Stats: Antonio Gates
- ESPN.Com Kent State basketball statistics
| Records | ||
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| Preceded by Mike Ditka 1961, (12) |
Record for NFL Tight End Receiving Touchdowns in a Single Season (Tied with Vernon Davis) 2009, (13) |
Succeeded by Rob Gronkowski 2011, (17) |
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- 1980 births
- Living people
- African-American basketball players
- African-American players of American football
- American Conference Pro Bowl players
- Basketball players from Michigan
- American football tight ends
- Eastern Michigan Eagles men's basketball players
- Junior college men's basketball players in the United States
- Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball players
- Sportspeople from Detroit, Michigan
- Players of American football from Michigan
- San Diego Chargers players
- Undrafted National Football League players
