A quarterback who transitioned to wide receiver midway through college? Anquan Boulding knows a thing or two about this move.
The former San Francisco 49er started out as a quarterback at Florida State, moved to wide receiver, and eventually played both quarterbacks in his college swan song, the 2003 Sugar Bowl, in which He scored a touchdown in the second quarter and then threw a third down.
When he finally took a spot, he became such a consistent runner and reliable target that he ranks ninth on the NFL’s all-time receiving list.
That’s why Boldin, 43, worked with a young receiver, Rice’s Luke McCaffrey, at XPE Sports in South Florida earlier this year.
Last season, after two years at quarterback for the Owls, McCaffrey caught the attention of NFL scouts by making improbable catch after improbable catch and finishing with a team-high 992 yards and 13 touchdowns. . He performed well at the Senior Bowl in January and then had a strong showing at the NFL Scouting Combine in February. His 4.02-second shuttle — a measure of how quickly a player changes direction — is the fastest at his position.
.@mccaffrey_luke The notch is 4.47u
📺： #NFL Combine exist @nfl network
📱: Live broadcast #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/RkThcL1xA6— NFL (@NFL) March 2, 2024
However, it was another feature that impressed Boldin most.
“He just wants to learn,” he said in a recent phone interview. “A lot of people, especially from his background, have this attitude: ‘You can’t tell me anything; you can’t tell me anything. I know it all. He was the complete opposite. He was the one who came to me. Man, the one who asked a lot of questions. He was a man who was always looking for more, even after the course was over.
McCaffrey said he’s starting late at the position, which means he has to play catch-up. That’s why he jumped at the chance to work with Boldin, who teaches the craft of route running to draft hopefuls.
“For me, as a guy who’s trying to gain experience faster than other people, when you have a guy like (Bouldin) in the room, it’s the most valuable thing in the world,” McCaffrey said. things.
McCaffrey has nearly 1,000 receiving yards in 2023 but is still on the rise at his new position, making him one of the most intriguing prospects in next week’s draft and he’s expected to go somewhere in the middle rounds. positions are selected.
Luke McCaffrey had 13 touchdowns and nearly 1,000 yards at Rice last season despite being inexperienced at the position. (Troy Taormina/USA Today)
Considering the 49ers’ need for young wide receivers, a glut of mid-round picks (including three in the fourth round) and Kyle Shanahan’s deep-seated affection for the McCaffrey family, They seem to be a strong contender.
To recap: As a kid, the 49ers coach idolized former Denver Broncos receiver Ed McCaffrey, so much so that he wore No. 87 as a college receiver. Shanahan invited Max, the oldest of Ed’s four sons, to 49ers training camp in 2018 and 2019.
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Now Shanahan has a chance to join the youngest Luke, who started at quarterback in part because his oldest brother needed someone to throw him the ball.
Growing up in the McCaffrey family meant you had to be in constant competition. A large number of those games were held on a golf course near the family’s home outside Denver. No, they weren’t practicing bunts. They play football. every day. On the 14th fairway.
“There weren’t a lot of flags or two hands touching,” said their mother, Lisa. “It was a lot of tackles. The game started.
“We didn’t grow up playing golf or anything, so we didn’t know the etiquette,” Luke said. “We just think of it as our field. We don’t think of it as a golf course. We may have added some of our own turf to that course, but it’s not for golfing.
The McCaffrey brothers were born about two years apart. To keep the team balanced, Luke is usually paired with Max, while middle boys Christian and Dylan play on the same team. The youngest boy is the quarterback.
“Max is an unbelievable athlete and now he’s an unbelievable coach,” Luke said with a smile. “He does a lot of things well. Throwing the ball is not one of them. So when the two of us teamed up together, I naturally became the guy who could throw the ball.
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The location is stuck. Growing up, Luke loved running quarterbacks like Denard Robinson and Lamar Jackson, and he went to Nebraska where he played for another former running quarterback, Scott Frost plays.
In 2021, he transferred to Rice University. The Owls struggled that season and McCaffrey didn’t perform well. He played in 9 games, starting 3 of them, with a pass completion rate of 50%, 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.
“It’s not going well for the quarterbacks in 2021 for a variety of reasons,” Rice coach Mike Bloomgren said. “Some of it is the cast of characters around him. Part of it is the pressure he puts on himself – the pressure to be perfect.
For Luke McCaffrey, the youngest of the four McCaffrey brothers, the quarterback position never quite clicked. (John Gutierrez/USA Today)
After the season, Bloomgren told McCaffrey he would support any move he wanted to make. If he wants to stay at quarterback, that’s fine. There has also been talk of a move to running back or even safety, a position McCaffrey played in high school and where he took some practice snaps during the season. That didn’t matter to Bloomgren. He just wants McCaffrey — and all the hard work, smarts and leadership he brings — to join the team.
He eventually moved to wide receiver, and perhaps not surprisingly, he was a quick study. In 2022, he caught 58 passes for 723 yards and six touchdowns.
“I joked at spring ball that year: Yeah, it was a very easy transition,” Bloomgren said. “It looks like he has a dad who played in the National Football League for 13 years.”
More notable for Bloomgren, however, is McCaffrey’s improvement between his first and second seasons in his new position. His natural athleticism, competitiveness and, yes, knowledge inherited from his father helped him make strides in his first year. The following season, his desire to learn the nuances of the position was palpable.
He sought advice from everyone on the team, from quarterback JT Daniels to the Owls’ defensive backs. He sent the tapes home for Ed and his brothers to analyze. He relentlessly played a hand-eye coordination game he invented in which he threw tennis balls off walls and attempted increasingly difficult grabs. The real challenge: His teammates will surround him whole-heartedly, determined not to let McCaffrey catch the ball.
“The best thing about tennis is that it’s portable,” McCaffrey said. “You can take it anywhere you want — whether it’s in the receiving room before a meeting, in the weight room after a workout, or in the car.”
He played relentlessly with his closest friends: running back Dean Connors, linebacker Geron Hargon and kicker Tim Horn . It’s no coincidence that they formed a quartet.
Luke McCaffrey celebrates a touchdown with Rice linebacker and close friend Jaylon Hagan. (Thomas Shea/USA Today)
“These guys kind of filled the role that my brother played growing up,” McCaffrey said. “They were like my coworkers that I hung out with and we would compete in all aspects of life and we enjoyed doing it. … I didn’t major in psychology or anything, but I’m sure there was something behind my growth There’s a certain science to it. That’s how I learned – playing games and competing.
The result: His statistics jumped in every aspect in 2023, and Rice’s quarterbacks trusted him in increasingly tough situations as the season progressed. In Pro Football Focus’ controversial goals statistic, McCaffrey ranks ninth nationally with 28 goals this season. His contested catch rate on those passes (60.7) ranks second among receivers with 25 or more such targets. The only receiver better than him (75 percent) is Washington’s Rome Odunze, who is projected to be a top-10 pick next week.
“Any ball that comes into his vicinity in 2023, we believe he’s going to catch it without a doubt,” Bloomgren said.
a one handed handicap @mccaffrey_luke 👀 @RiceFootball pic.twitter.com/2RaMkm8FuB
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) February 3, 2024
Luke is the second McCaffery coached by Bloomgren. He was Stanford’s offensive coordinator a decade ago, which meant he was there when Christian arrived in 2014. The same goes for another McCaffrey trait.
Bloomgren said Christian learned some Wildcat plays during his freshman and sophomore years. If he messes up a play in traffic or doesn’t get the timing of his moves right, it drives him crazy and stays with him for the next few photos. Luke is the same way.
“I actually think one of the hardest things for Luke is going into the next game as a quarterback and trying to be perfect,” he said. “It’s almost impossible to be perfect at the quarterback position. I think that’s a negative. Because it’s not like Luke doesn’t have the talent to play quarterback. I think he’s so hard on himself that made a mistake.
“That’s the thing about McCaffrey,” he continued. “It’s mostly a positive because of how critical they are of themselves and how self-driven they are. But sometimes it’s something they have to deal with.
The never-ending pursuit of perfection suits a receiver better. Boldin and XPE founder Tony Villani quickly realized this when McCaffrey arrived in early January.
Boldin is decidedly old school when it comes to the receiver position. He didn’t want to see a lot of dancing and extra moves at the top of the route. His message to McCaffrey, Washington’s Jalin Polk, Central Florida’s Javon Baker, Virginia’s Malik Washington and other potential prospects is to keep everything as clean and consistent as possible so The quarterback just knows what’s going to happen on every route.
Villani said he uses film analysis to measure consistency on all routes players run. McCaffrey stands out with a 90% correlation.
“He’s our most efficient runner,” he said. “It’s the consistency with which he changes direction. The quality of the change of direction is what stands out – they’re great and there’s no difference between them and the others are very different.
The question now is how that collection of traits — coupled with McCaffrey’s inexperience at receiver — translates into the draft. Neither 49ers general manager John Lynch nor his long-time right-hand man Adam Peters (now the Washington Commanders’ general manager) are concerned that Lisa and Ed McCaffrey’s youngest son will eventually be taken away from him Make a decision.
“He’s relatively new at the position, but I’ve never counted on McCaffrey,” Lynch said at the combine. “All I know is, this kid has great blood.”
“Anytime you can buy McCaffrey, you can’t go wrong,” Peters said.
Both noted that Christian plans to watch the draft next week with his brother in Colorado, and he will take every opportunity to talk about Luke — in the cafeteria, before practice, whenever possible. People who know them well say they think and prepare in a very similar way.
“I know it sounds like I’m just talking about all the good things about this kid,” Bloomgren said of Luke. “But that’s who he is. He’s everything good. You want an opportunity to coach this kid. You want an opportunity to have this kid be a part of your team.
(Top photo: Kara Durette/Getty Images)
