Antonio Gates Jr. may not blaze the trail his father did — and he's OK with that

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Sometimes there are moments in a season when alarms should go off accompanied by fireworks and lights, when you realize something special is happening.

Midway through the second quarter of a game against highly touted Belleville, a Dearborn Fordson receiver ran a short route and threw up his right hand to pluck the ball out of midair.

In the same motion as he hauled the pass in to his body, he spun away from two defenders, eluded a third and began running diagonally across the field, juking another defensive back before prancing into the end zone.

It seemed at that moment we could drop the “junior” part from Antonio Gates Jr.’s name because he had firmly established himself as his own man.

Antonio Gates Jr. is the son of the Antonio Gates, the former Detroit Central football and basketball all-stater who in three years will be inducted into Pro Football’s Hall of Fame as the greatest tight end in NFL history.

That is pretty much an impossible legacy to live up to and no one knows that better than Gates Jr., 6 feet 1, 175 pounds, who has committed to Michigan State.

“Honestly, I do think about that sometimes,” he said. “What if I’m not good enough? What if I’m not what everyone wants me to be? But at the end of the day I have to be the best I can be.”

The walking highlight reel

Gates Jr. is having a sensational season and, frankly, it is difficult to name another player in the state who is having a better season than him heading into Friday’s regular season finale against Howell.

As a junior he had a good season, catching 25 passes for 554 yards and seven touchdowns in eight games. But the improvement in his play this season has been striking — 42 receptions for 720 yards and 14 TDs.

This guy is a walking, talking highlight reel and MSU may not truly understand what they will have on their hands next fall.

Against unbeaten and second-ranked Livonia Churchill, Fordson threw a receiver screen and Gates Jr. caught the ball behind the line of scrimmage and instantly began rotating his hips in every direction possible before sprinting down the field for a 35-yard gain to the Churchill 20-yard line.

On the very next play he was lined up to the right again and when the ball was snapped he retreated behind the line, caught another screen and once against we got the hip gyrations.

FROM LAST YEAR: An All-Pro dad and a superstar son: Inside the life of Antonio Gates Jr.

(By the way, don’t try that at home or you will likely need hip replacement surgery.)

Defenders began stumbling as they tried to move in on him, and Gates Jr. took off to score another touchdown.

Standing quietly along the fence behind the track, his father, who lives in California but comes in for virtually every game, watched with a critical eye.

Because he spent 16 seasons in the NFL, was a three-time All-Pro selection, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and the tight end on the 2000's All-Decade team, he understands what it takes to reach the elite level.

Racking up the YAC

This fall he likes the improvement he sees from his son.

“I think it’s the run after the catch,” he said. “I told him I wanted to see that more. When he was younger he would just catch the ball, but now like on screens it says a lot about him as an athlete. That’s what the good ones do.”

YAC — yards after the catch — was Gates Jr.’s biggest point of emphasis entering this season, which is why he has turned so many short receptions into long gainers.

“I remember we had a long conversation and he said if this is what you want to do, this is the area you have to improve in,” Gates Jr. said. “He said you don’t necessarily have to be the fastest or strongest, but when you look at every top receiver in the NFL they all have YAC. They can all do something with the ball in their hands.

“Now I’m not the fastest, I’m not the strongest, but I think I have the best releases off the line, I think I run the routes the best, I have great ball skills and YAC, I’ve gotten a little bit better.”

He has gotten a lot better and it wasn’t simply a maturing process then all of a sudden that ability appeared out of nowhere.

“That’s something I worked on," he said. “Just planting and going. That’s a thing you have to work on. It’s not natural at all. That’s something that you can work on and have it in your game.”

There is so much in Gates Jr’s. game it is ridiculous. But looking at him as a complete player, his biggest improvement may have come defensively.

A year ago Gates Jr. played defensive back like a wide receiver, back-peddling all the way to the banquet. He would go for interceptions, of course, but rarely did he play defense like he wanted to lead the team in tackles.

On the last play of the first half against Belleville he came flying out of the secondary and lowered his shoulder into the receiver’s shoulder and darn near knocked him into next week with a vicious, but perfectly legal, hit.

Hits like that have become almost routine for him this fall.

“That’s another improvement I’ve seen in him, the way he’s playing on defense,” said his father. “The confidence in his tackling. He’s learning certain fundamentals in tackling. It’s now becoming a question do you really want to play defense or offense?”

'Lives up to those moments'

Gates Jr. has played for Fordson coach Walker Zaban for four seasons and not only has he seen the youngster improve in all areas of the game, but there is something special about him that can’t be taught.

It’s often difficult to describe, but you know it when you see it like the way Gates Jr. played last season against Detroit Cass Tech’s Kalen King, now a cornerback at Penn State.

“He has a competitive nature,” Zaban said. “His best moments have been against the best players. We can go back to his sophomore year when he went against Belleville he had a great year. Last year he really did a great job against King, who I felt was probably the best player in the state.

“I guess I wish we were playing teams like that all the time because it brings out the best in him all the time. He lives for the moments and he lives up to those moments.”

That may be because he has been trying to play up to his namesake.

His father grimaced and shook his head when asked about the decision to name him after himself.

“Looking back on it, I might have done it differently from the simple fact that you don’t want to put that pressure on a child,” he said. “At the time it was my first boy and I was younger, 22 or 23. But now I would never name a kid after me again.”

Truth be told, Gates Jr. claims he doesn’t mind it one bit. At least that’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

But he understands that he can’t be just another player on the field because having the last name of "Gates Jr." is like having a target on his back.

“I have to look myself in the mirror and say: ‘I’m going to be this good because it’s what I want to do, not because of who my father is,’” he said. “I already know I’m never going to be able to catch up to him; I’ll never be able to outdo what he did.

“That could be the first mistake to anybody who has a father who’s been in the NFL, that’s a Pro Bowler.”

Not just a Pro Bowler, but the most touchdown receptions by a tight end in NFL history (116) and top three all-time amongst tight ends for career receptions (955) and receiving yards (11,841).

Through many long talks with his father, Gates Jr. has learned he has to set achievable goals for himself, not expectations other people have for the son of a future Hall of Famer.

“Don’t try to live up to something you don’t have to,” he said. “He’s my father; he set the way for me. All I can do is set the way for my son and his son. My job is to be the best I can be.”

He’s off to a darn good start.

Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1. Save $10 on his new book, “Mick McCabe’s Golden Yearbook: 50 Great Years of Michigan’s Best High School Players, Teams & Memories,” by ordering right now at McCabe.PictorialBook.com.