“Celek Time” may forever be the greatest thing that ever happened to Garrett Celek’s career. The moment Kyle Shanahan Christened him that name in the midst of a Giants game, Celek emerged from just being a blocker and became a player in the 49ers pass game.
His partner in crime, tight end George Kittle absolutely loves the name and went into detail the day it all happened. When Garrett Celek ceased being Garrett Celek and became “Celek Time.” Sure, we all have heard the story, but like the story of how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, hearing it from other mouths keeps it fresh, and it will never get old:
“Coach Shanahan brought it up one time after the Giants game, because he had, like three catches on that drive going into halftime, and he’s like, “Yeah, Celek Time just happened.” It just kind of blew up from there, because he kept having good game after good game. It’s one of my favorite things ever. I’m a huge fan of Celek Time and I hope it won’t go away, ever.”
Celek Time instantly stuck the moment those two words were uttered. Announcers tried to get in on the coolness by referring to him as such, and Kittle mentioned a few seconds later in the interview that Celek himself now games with an Xbox Live gamertag using the nickname. I tried looking it up, but it appears to be hidden because the only “Celek Time” I found had a handful of points playing Minecraft. Or maybe Celek is a huge minecraft player. Who knows?
Below are the time stamps to Kittles meeting with the media. You can listen to the interview here.
00:00 - Trent Taylor’s back issues
00:24 - Offseason training
01:40 - Relationship/chemistry with Jimmy Garoppolo
02:15 - His thoughts on “Celek Time”
03:15 - The value of the Saturday throwing sessions
03:37 - What he wants to prove his second season
04:01 - Thoughts on Joe Staley and Staley’s relationship with Mike McGlinchey
04:19 - Differences of throwing sessions in ‘Phase 2’
05:02 - How does a tight end practice catching a ball “draped” by a defender?
05:37 - The 4th down play in Indianapolis and how it helped his confidence