CCU football notebook: Backup quarterback out for the year after re-injuring shoulder

Coastal Carolina redshirt freshman Chance Thrasher can’t catch a break.

Already having dealt with surgery on his throwing arm due to a broken shoulder he suffered during high school that kept him sidelined last season, the quarterback will now miss the entire 2016 season due to another injury to the same shoulder that he suffered in practice last month.

“I couldn’t feel worse than I do for the kid,” Coastal Carolina head coach Joe Moglia said of Thrasher. “That’s a tough thing for the kid and certainly for what we were [looking] for, but I’m more hurt for the kid."

It leaves Coastal Carolina with a sophomore starter in Josh Stilley – who has started just one game – and true freshman – Dillon High product Avery McCall – as backup.

“In regards to Avery – again, Chance is coming off shoulder surgery and has not played a snap since his senior year of high school. So he’s relatively inexperienced, too. It’s not like Chance has already learned the system and was up and going and ready to go,” Moglia said. “Now, he certainly knew the system more than Avery. But what I think Avery brings to the table is he’s a very good athlete. I think he has pretty good poise, I think he’s doing a pretty good job making his reads.”

While Avery is new to the college football, he impressed at the high school level, becoming the only quarterback in S.C. high school football history to win four consecutive state titles during his tenure at Dillon.

Coastal Carolina already has its starter in Stilley, but Avery should be ready to go if he’s ever called on.

“We’re not going to ask Avery to do things he can’t do,” Moglia said. “So [offensive coordinator] Dave Patenaude and our offensive staff have built a package for Avery that we know he can execute.”

No matter how you look at the Chants’ situation, it’s never easy replacing the school’s all-time passing leader as former quarterback Alex Ross – a 2015 FCS All-American – is no longer with the program.

And while it’s a long road ahead, there’s already been some promise.

In last week’s 38-14 win over Lamar (Tx.), Stilley – in his first collegiate start – was 10-of-22 passing for 138 yards. While he didn’t throw for a touchdown, he also protected the ball and didn’t have a turnover.

“I saw what you’d expect – a little – in terms of inexperience, but I saw very good poise from him,” Moglia said of Stilley. “... He didn’t turn the ball over and he had good control of what was going on, and I think that’s very important.”

Hopping into the record books

DeAngelo ‘Hop’ Henderson already has his name plastered all over the Coastal Carolina, Big South and NCAA record books.

It’s no surprise the Chants running back could potentially break even more records.

Last Saturday, Henderson scored two touchdowns against Lamar to give him the all-time program touchdown record (48), passing Aundres Perkins (47 TDs, 2003-06) on the list. It also tied him with Lee Suggs (Virginia Tech, 2000-02) for the most consecutive games in NCAA Division I history with at least one rushing touchdown.

Along with the chance to break the consecutive touchdown record, Henderson could potentially break the school record for most career points and rushing touchdowns in Saturday’s home opener against Florida A&M. His 290 career points trails former kicker Josh Hoke’s total of 297 and his 44 rushing TDs trails Perkins’ total of 46.

Offensive tackle Chase Tidwell said it’s an honor to help Henderson with his accomplishments, but it’s never really a topic of discussion for either.

“Any time one of your teammates are up for a record or getting ready to break a record, it’s always a great thing to be a part of. DeAngelo is obviously a great running back, and paving the way for him – he kind of makes it easy for you sometimes when he makes [defenders] miss and stuff like that,” said Tidwell, a senior. “But we don’t really talk about [records] and he doesn’t talk about it; we show up to practice every day and we’re one unit, we’re one offense. But we’ll do everything we can to let him break that record and obviously do everything we can to win on Saturday.”

Moglia said he doesn’t expect Patenaude to make drastic changes to the gameplan in order to get Henderson the records, but there may be some wishful thinking if the situation is right.

“[Patenaude is] not going to think about that, but I say if we get inside the 5-yard line he’ll think about it, which I think is fair. But we’re not going to do anything to change the gameplan to do that,” Moglia said. “But if we have an opportunity to give him a chance to score, because we’re near the goal line – we would do that. But frankly, we would be giving him the ball down there anyway.

“So it’s not like we’re doing anything different, but we would be sensitive to it. Would we give him an extra carry or two? Yeah, we would do that.”

Flight woes

The team’s flight on the way to Beaumont, Texas for last Saturday’s game seemed to be quite the harrowing experience, something you might see in an episode of The Twilight Zone.

With Tropical Storm Hermine making its way on land, there was heavy rain and winds as the team’s flight took off. Tidwell vividly recalled the experience at Wednesday’s press conference.

“I’m thankful for those pilots. We got to the airport and it was pouring rain. We were all sitting out there like, ‘What are we doing out here?’ But we trust coach and everybody to get us there safe,” Tidwell said. “We took off and that plane started rocking a little bit and everybody started looking at each other like, ‘What in the world is going on here?’ We actually dropped twice and the first time I was like, ‘Oh, OK. You know, it’s a little fun.’ Wasn’t that scary, I was trying to be brave for everybody.

“Until the second time it dropped, I was sitting on the plane next to Will Walker. I looked over and said, ‘Hey man, this might be the end. We might not make it to Beaumont.’ But we got through that storm, and the rest of the flight was pretty easy. Wasn’t too bad after that.”

Moglia, who served as TD Ameritrade’s Chief Executive Officer for seven years (2001-08), has flown all over the world for business reasons. But that flight stood out amongst the rest.

“We get on the plane and it’s a torrential, I mean torrential downpour. ... I’ve never been on a plane that’s had more turbulence than this plane,” Moglia recalled. “For the good first 30 minutes of this flight, this plane is bouncing all over the place and I was praying, and holding on for dear life. We had probably 15 kids that have never flown before, so this was kind of a tough experience.”

Moglia said the team has an optional prayer service every Friday before games, headed by Nick Jones, the team’s tight ends and tackles coach.

Jones used the flight as an inspiration in his message that day, and Moglia did the same when the team trailed Lamar 14-3 at halftime before scoring 35 unanswered points to win.

“You can’t worry about things you can’t control. How much training does the pilots actually have? They’ve been doing this type of thing in simulators like forever and you have to trust your pilots know what they’re doing and that you’ll be taken care of,” Moglia said. “That kind of carried over to what [Jones] talked about with regard to life. That carried over to my talk to the next day. We’re going to have turbulence in the game; are we going to panic or are we going to understand what’s going on and make sure we handle it, fix it, control it, et cetera.”

Injury report

Coastal Carolina junior linebacker Shane Johnson exited last week’s season opener with an ankle sprain and is expected to miss the home opener Saturday.

Johnson still managed to record four tackles against Lamar, despite playing sparingly. True freshman Laqavious Paul took over for Johnson and had four tackles as well as the Chants’ lone sack.

Safety CJ Thompson, who missed last week’s season opener, was at full strength at practice Tuesday and is expected to play against Florida A&M.

Day of giving

The Coastal Carolina Department of Athletics is holding a Day of Giving on Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon to help flood relief efforts in Louisiana.

Students, staff and community members can drop off their donations at the trailer parked in the Brooks Stadium RV Lot behind the baseball scoreboard. Various CCU student-athletes will be present during the three-hour window to help collect supplies.

Below is a list of supplies that are most needed:

▪  Five Gallon Bucket (with resealable lid)

▪  Mops - Liquid Laundry Detergent

▪  All-Purpose Household Cleaner

▪  Insect Repellent

▪  Scrub Brushes

▪  Cleaning Wipes

▪  Scouring Pads

▪  Heavy-duty Trash Bags

▪  Work Gloves

▪  School Supplies

▪  Toiletries

▪  Canned Goods

Those who cannot make the Day of Giving on Thursday but still wish to donate may do so up until Sept. 10 by one of the following three options:

▪  Bring the supplies you wish to donate to any home Coastal Carolina athletic event

Sept. 9 – Men’s Soccer vs. South Carolina: 7 p.m. at CCU Soccer Stadium; CCU Cross Country Invite: 6 p.m. at Hackler Golf Course

Sept. 10 – Football vs. Florida A&M: 7 p.m. at Brooks Stadium

▪  Bring the supplies you wish to donate to Arcadia Hall on the campus of Coastal Carolina (132 Chanticleer Dr. West)

This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 6:28 PM with the headline "CCU football notebook: Backup quarterback out for the year after re-injuring shoulder."