Coastal Carolina football, Jamey Chadwell continue to grow Chanticleers brand

Coastal Carolina nose tackle Jerrod Clark took a leadership class last fall with professor Fei Gao. Every week as the Chanticleers continued to rack up victories en route to a second consecutive 11-win season, Gao greeted Clark similarly when the latter entered the classroom.

“I walked in, and he’s so excited after every game. Like: ‘Good job, good job. You guys did great. Who do you play next?’” Clark said. “He’s trying to plan out the next game, what time he’s going to come, plan out where he’s going to sit and all that good stuff.

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“It’s just a different type of atmosphere.”

Clark remembers how it felt in 2019 when the Chanticleers were in the throes of a 5-7 season and it didn’t seem like many of his peers or professors cared about a football team that was struggling during head coach Jamey Chadwell’s first full season. But when Coastal went 11-1 in 2020 and won the Sun Belt Conference as college football’s mullet-sporting “fun team,” the national brand started to grow. Then, in 2021, the Chanticleers finished third in the Sun Belt but still went 11-2 with a win over Northern Illinois in the Tailgreeter Cure Bowl for the program’s first FBS bowl win.

“I think from the brand standpoint of Coastal,” Chadwell said, “the recognition of that has made a 180.”

Coastal Carolina winning at the rate it has in the past two seasons has brought more attention to the program than ever before. But with increased exposure comes heightened expectations. And in that sense, 2022 could be a fascinating transition for a Chanticleers team looking to win double-digit games for the third consecutive season.

On the one hand, Coastal Carolina returns one of the best quarterbacks in the country in junior Grayson McCall, who led the nation in passing efficiency last season and is coming off consecutive Sun Belt player of the year honors. McCall has been sensational for the Chanticleers and their offensive system since 2020 when he became the starter.

“You feel good about it,” Chadwell said of his quarterback situation.

But on the other hand, Coastal Carolina is losing 17 full-time or multi-game starters from 2021: eight on offense and nine on defense.

“I do think we are the most talented we’ve been as far as flat-out talent,” Chadwell said. “But talent won’t be the issue. It’s gonna be, ‘Do we have the discipline and the details like our other (former) guys had? … They definitely had that chip and that burning desire. So we’ve got to make sure these young guys (have that).”

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McCall will be asked to step into one of those leadership roles — “It’s really his team,” Chadwell said — but will need to take the next step verbally and get some help from a team still finding itself.

“We lost a lot of obviously really good players but, more importantly, strong leaders. Our biggest focus this offseason and through the summer will be identifying those key leaders that can lead this team and be accountability-driven within the team and not coaches having to do it,” Chadwell said. “That’s been our biggest challenge.”

Offense

The offense starts with McCall, who certainly would have had the opportunity to play at a bigger school in 2022 if he chose to do so, but he made it clear to the coaching staff after the bowl game that he wouldn’t be going anywhere. There was “never a worry,” Chadwell said, that he would lose his quarterback.

“We thought the whole time, ‘Hey, he’s coming back,’” Chadwell said. “That was our belief.”

As a redshirt freshman, McCall threw for more than 200 yards in eight of the 11 games he played in, going 172-of-250 passing for 2,488 yards with 26 touchdowns and three interceptions. He followed it up in 2021 by leading the country in quarterback rating (207.65) as the first non-Power 5 quarterback to do so since Boise State’s Kellen Moore in 2010. McCall finished the season second nationally in completion percentage (73) and tied for 18th in touchdowns (27), going 176-of-241 for 2,873 yards with 27 touchdowns and three interceptions.

“As a freshman, he’s on the scene and trying to figure it out and did a great job. And then last year, (it’s) ‘OK, all right now, hey, are you a one-hit wonder?’ He came back and had another great year,” Chadwell said. “He’s a leader because of being a quarterback, but really now, because we really did lose so many dynamic leaders on both sides of the ball that had been here for five years plus, he’s really got to take this next step vocally because all these young people are gonna look at him. You’re leading this whole parade. Let’s go.’”

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It’s around McCall and company where things get dicey.

All three offensive linemen the Chanticleers lost were multiyear starters. Chadwell said the Chanticleers will move left guard Willie Lampkin to center and left tackle Antwine Loper to right tackle, where he played in 2019. McCall is a proven playmaker, but teams have a better chance of neutralizing him if his protection struggles while the Chanticleers figure out their offensive line.

Clark said sophomore Willie Moise caught his eye in particular during spring practice.

“He had some drastic improvement throughout the whole spring,” Clark said. “And I’m really excited to see how it all comes together for the offensive line and him, himself.”

In addition to McCall, running back should be a strength. It starts with Reese White, who had 72 carries for 515 yards and seven touchdowns last season, and Braydon Bennett, who had 74 carries for 636 yards and seven touchdowns. Bennett averaged 18 yards per carry in the Chanticleers’ bowl game, rushing for 108 yards and two touchdowns on six carries.

“Those two guys have experience. Those two guys are really good out of the backfield running the ball and catching it,” Chadwell said. “So those are two guys that really have to play at a high level this year.”

As Chadwell looks at his wide receivers, he sees more speed at the position than ever before thanks to slot receivers like Jared Brown, who can “really, really run,” Chadwell said, and Aaron Bedgood, whom Chadwell said is “our poor man’s version of Deebo Samuel” strictly in terms of how the Chanticleers can use Bedgood running and catching the ball. Chadwell is looking for junior Tyson Mobley to take the next step after he caught six passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns in 2021. Sam Pinckney, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound transfer from Georgia State, had Chadwell singing his praises post-spring.

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“I think he has a chance to have an all-conference type year. He’s very similar to the Jaivon Heiligh that we just lost,” Chadwell said of Pinckney. “They’re very similar players, which is good.”

At tight end, seniors Xavier Gravette and TJ Ivy Jr. played in six and 13 games, respectively, last season, but Coastal Carolina understands it won’t have a tight end like Isaiah Likely, who wreaked havoc for defenses in the slot. Likely was a semifinalist for the John Mackey Award, given to the nation’s top tight end, and led the Sun Belt with 12 touchdown receptions, hauling in 59 passes for 912 yards on the year.

“We’re gonna have to be a little different there,” Chadwell said. “We have some tight ends that are capable, but obviously not to the level that we had from a pass-catching standpoint. So I think we’ll be a little different there. But they are talented.

“We’ve really got to lean on those running backs as far as obviously running the ball, but really more so, ‘How do we use them in the passing game to take some of the pressure off some of those young guys (as) they figure it out?’”

Key stat to know: Just how dominant were McCall and Likely in 2021? McCall’s 207.65 pass-efficiency rating was the highest in single-season FBS history. It topped the previous record of 203.1 set by Alabama’s Mac Jones in 2020. Likely’s 95.1 career PFF grade was the highest by any tight end in PFF history.

Chanticleers' returning production

Defense

The Chanticleers are losing a load on defense, starting with the five leading tacklers. They do, however, return sophomore defensive end Josaiah Stewart, who led the team with 15 1/2 tackles for loss and 12 1/2 sacks in 2021. Stewart earned Freshman All-America honors from The Athletic and others and first-team All-Sun Belt honors. The defense almost certainly will run through him.

Seniors Clark and Travis Geiger Jr. return at nose tackle, and senior Kennedy Roberts returns at defensive tackle. Clark started 11 of 13 games last season and had a season-high seven tackles against Northern Illinois in the bowl game but acknowledged he didn’t play well enough to earn all-conference honors the past two seasons.

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“The next step for me is being consistent,” he said. “And that starts with the summer.”

Defensive ends Braylon Ryan and Emmanuel Johnson started two games in 2021, but be on the lookout for senior Ja’Quon Griffin, a transfer from Georgia Tech who can help up front after playing 11 games for the Yellow Jackets in 2019 and 10 games each in 2020 and 2021.

“He was a D-lineman who played some there, and he came in and really had a good spring and solidified that he can play some positions there on the defensive line, which we need that,” Chadwell said. “That was a positive addition for us.”

So, too, was Adrian Hope, a transfer from Furman. Hope plays the bandit position, a hybrid linebacker/defensive end role, and is already familiar with the Chanticleers’ system, having played for defensive coordinator Chad Staggs and outside linebackers coach Josh Miller when all three were at Furman.

“He was able to come in and did a fantastic job for us this spring. Already basically knew most of the stuff,” Chadwell said. “He’s a graduate. It really gave us some maturity at that position, which we needed, and he’ll be a big contributor this year.”

JT Killen is the only true linebacker on the roster who registered double-digit tackles for the Chanticleers in 2021, and even then, he had only 17. Shane Bruce is back but will have to work his way back to playing form after missing last season with a medical redshirt. Perhaps South Carolina transfer linebacker and Chanticleers spur Jahmar Brown can help, but his sample size with the Gamecocks in 2021 is small: eight games, 11 tackles. Missouri/Abilene Christian transfer Jairan Parker exited spring practice with some buzz, having earned the team’s Most Improved Outside Linebacker Award for the spring, but he just joined the program as a walk-on after being a student at Coastal Carolina in the fall.

In the secondary, D’Jordan Strong, Lance Boykin, Tavyn Jackson, Dre Pinckney, Tobias Fletcher and Jacob Proche all return, with Strong leading the way with 13 starts at cornerback last season. Boykin started three games, and Proche started two. Syracuse transfer Chase Atkinson and junior college addition Joshua Madison from the College of the Canyons, both safeties, add two more bodies in the fold. Fletcher and Dre Pinckney are the only safeties on the roster who started a game in 2021, and both started just once.

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The Chanticleers added two junior college players (Madison and nose tackle Allen Henry) and six players from the transfer portal on defense in graduate defensive end Amadou Fofana (Oklahoma State), Griffin (Georgia Tech), Hope (Furman), Brown (South Carolina), Parker (Abilene Christian) and Atkinson (Syracuse) to get experience.

Despite the losses, Chadwell believes the 2022 defense has the potential to be better than the 2021 group thanks to the unit’s talent.

“I think you’re gonna see more players play this year,” he said.

Key stat to know: According to ESPN’s Bill Connelly, Coastal Carolina ranks last in the FBS, not just the Sun Belt, in returning defensive production from last season. His formula incorporates tackles, passes defended, tackles for loss and sacks.

Special teams

First-string kicker Massimo Biscardi transferred to Mississippi State, and punter Charles Ouverson was a super-senior in 2021. Reserve punter/kicker Kieran Colahan transferred to Gardner Webb, leaving the Chanticleers thin on experience. At kicker, the Chanticleers return Liam Gray, who kicked in just three games a season ago. At punter, the duties could be left up to freshman Evan Crenshaw, who is the only punter on the roster who’s also not listed as a kicker, but he lacks experience. He was rated as the No. 2 punter nationally by the 247Sports Composite.

Mason Shelton, CJ Beasley, Bedgood and Proche all return to compete for reps as the punt returner. Cornerback Manny Stokes Jr. is back after returning 13 kickoffs for 239 yards. Considering the speed Chadwell mentioned when he spoke of Bedgood, perhaps he’s an option for returning kicks as well.

Opposing scouting report

Coastal’s offense is unique in that the Chanticleers rarely go under center and stress defenses with their pre-snap presentation. Chadwell designed the scheme more than a decade ago at North Greenville, which frequently features 21 personnel with two running backs and one tight end.

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Preparing for the Chanticleers as a defensive coach is no easy feat, an opposing 2021 Sun Belt defensive assistant said.

“(They are the) toughest offensive team to game plan for because it’s like preparing for two offenses based on personnel,” the assistant said. “(Coaches) do a great job of evaluating talent, as they have plenty of NFL- and Power 5-caliber players.”

The assistant added that Coastal Carolina’s culture was evident on the field, calling the Chanticleers “incredibly tough-minded” players who “play the game how it’s supposed to be played.” No wonder Chadwell has spent so much time this offseason trying to develop his team into a player-driven unit.

“(They have an) unbelievable culture that you can see on tape with how they play together and for each other,” the assistant said.

How the Chanticleers recruited from 2019 to 2022

The Chanticleers have built their recruiting under Chadwell and just signed the best class in program history. Their Class of 2022 ranked No. 70 nationally by the 247Sports Composite and features 17 three-star prospects, tied with Arkansas State for the most in the conference.

Not long after the Chanticleers finished with the No. 7 class in the Sun Belt in 2019 and No. 5 class in the conference in 2020, they finished with the Sun Belt’s No. 3 class in 2021 and No. 2 class in 2022. Winning will do that.

“We were fine just to get recognized in this state probably two or three years ago. And now we’re, I mean, nationally, people know what the Chanticleer means,” Chadwell said. “We’re obviously on the road recruiting, and everybody knows about Coastal Carolina.”

McCall’s career certainly has helped the Chanticleers recruit players who see what the staff has done with him and want to join in, and Likely’s experience shows the Chanticleers can produce elite, future NFL talent with unranked high school prospects.

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The biggest difference for Chadwell on the road is that he can now sell proven results instead of potential.

“We were able to get some, especially younger guys, just get some higher-level players than maybe we had in the past just because we are winning now,” he said. “You’re selling a vision prior to, right? What we think we’re going to become. And now we’ve sort of become it.”

In the transfer portal

The portal can be fickle for Group of 5 programs, especially if star players want to look for bigger opportunities at Power 5 programs after establishing themselves at a program like Coastal Carolina. The program had 16 players enter the portal in the Class of 2022, according to 247, including Enock Makonzo, who started every game at spur.

That said, Chadwell and his staff used the portal to help fill gaps on the roster and succeeded with proven players like Sam Pinckney, Hope and Griffin.

“Talking with Ja’Quan, he was part of a Georgia Tech team who won I think maybe three or four games, and then they went on a losing streak. So he knows what it looks like when a team is destined to lose, I guess you could say,” Clark said of the Yellow Jackets’ six-game losing skid to close the season. “Winning is not guaranteed. Winning is earned.”

Chadwell said he believes Coastal Carolina has gotten 14 transfers in the past three years, with 12 of them making meaningful contributions. This transfer class is not ranked in the Sun Belt Conference 2022 transfer team rankings and isn’t a flashy group. But Chadwell anticipates the majority of his defensive transfers will “either start or play a bigger role,” with Sam Pinckney leading the way on offense. The Chanticleers also picked up offensive lineman Dillon Luther, who played in three games last season with Western Carolina because of an injury but started all nine games in 2020 and started five games as a freshman in 2019.

“We’d love to say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna get unbelievable players every year that transfer in,’” Chadwell said. “But I’m also realistic that if they’re really good, they’re probably staying at P5, right? … We’ve tried to get guys that fit the culture and have been good players for us. And up to this point, they’ve done a great job of doing that, so it’s been productive for us.”

Impact of coaching changes

Staff continuity is important to Chadwell, which is why when he had three openings this offseason, he elected to fill each of them with internal hires.

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Former tight ends coach Malcolm Dixon is now coaching the wide receivers, replacing Tony Washington, who took the wide receivers job at West Virginia. Cody Ladutko, a former analyst, replaces Dixon as the tight ends coach. On the defensive side, Chadwell promoted Aaron Fierbaugh to coach the inside linebackers after Rod Wilson took a job with the Kansas City Chiefs as a defensive assistant.

Chadwell said Dixon is originally a wide receivers coach anyway, which has made for a smooth transition. Plus, the experience he gained working with Likely should translate well. Washington also left after only about three spring practices, which allowed Dixon to assume his new role for most of the spring. As for Ladutko and Fierbaugh, both former analysts are familiar with Coastal Carolina’s respective systems. Ladutko worked with offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Willy Korn with the wide receivers and quarterbacks and also pitched in with installation, scouting and game planning. Fierbaugh assisted Wilson with the linebackers and Staggs with game prep.

“I think it’s big to try to have as much continuity and a similar voice,” Chadwell said when asked about Dixon. “Our players, obviously they were sad that their coach left, but because they had a familiar voice that knew them and had been around them, I think they improved from that. So I think that was a good move for us.”

Schedule

Date	Team	Site
Sept. 3		Home
Sept. 10	Gardner-Webb	Home
Sept. 17		Home
Sept. 22		Away
Oct. 1		Home
Oct. 8		Away
Oct. 15		Home
Oct. 29		Away
Nov. 3		Home
Nov. 12		Home
Nov. 19		Away
Nov. 26	James Madison	Away

Final assessment

The Chanticleers have all the talent they need and a quarterback who should again be in the national spotlight. It’s now a matter of leaders emerging and whether a surplus of talent can outweigh a lack of experience.

“We are more talented overall than we’ve ever been, talent-wise. Now, they don’t have the experience of playing five years, six years, like a lot of these guys have,” Chadwell said. “Will we keep that chip, that hunger to prove people wrong? Most of the majority of this team now has (experienced) 22 wins. They don’t know any different. They don’t know the struggles that were before it. So the mentality has got to be right.”

Editor’s note: This is part of a series previewing Power 5 and top Group of 5 teams for the 2022 college football season.

(Top photo of Grayson McCall: John Rivera / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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