Coastal Carolina coach Chadwell still mulling quarterback options

Coming off the fifth consecutive game in which Coastal Carolina failed to throw for more than 100 yards, offensive coordinator and interim head football coach Jamey Chadwell is clearly still looking for more consistent and effective play at the quarterback position.

But he failed to say at his weekly press conference Wednesday that he was going to change quarterbacks or play additional QBs on Saturday against Western Illinois, CCU’s lone Football Championship Subdivision opponent this year. The Leathernecks (2-0) are ranked 19th and 21st in the two primary FCS national polls.

Senior Tyler Keane has started the first two games and has been spelled by graduate student Dalton Demos in each.

That could change by next week’s Sun Belt Conference opener at Louisiana-Monroe, however.

“We’re trying to just give ourselves the best chance to win each week and then once we get into the conference we’ll figure out what’s the best long-term answer and then we’re going to roll with it,” Chadwell said. “We may take our lumps, but we’ll roll with our best long-term answer that gives us the best chance to win this season.”

Keane has generally protected the ball as a starter, throwing just two interceptions through his first eight starts through the season opener. But he was 7 of 16 for 75 yards with three interceptions Saturday in a 30-23 loss at Alabama-Birmingham. Chadwell thought Keane was fooled by some of UAB’s defensive looks and made a few bad decisions.

“The turnovers that disappointed, it wasn’t necessarily that he turned it over, it was the decision-making of it – you throw it one way when the read told you that you should go the other way,” Chadwell said. “That’s the thing we need to correct. If you do those things, I think that ballgame is a different story.”

Demos sparked a touchdown drive early in the second half Saturday and has 79 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries this season, but he has completed just 3 of 8 passes for 27 yards.

“You saw what Dalton’s strengths are. You also saw some things he needs to try to work on. He’s not a guy I think you can let the whole offense be under his reins, he’s got to have a specific package, and Tyler has to improve. … It’s a work in progress.”

Chadwell said about 30 pass plays were called Saturday, resulting in 23 passes. The Chants have thrown 41 passes compared to 96 run plays this season.

“We’re going to have to continue to try to be aggressive and throw the ball,” Chadwell said. “We’ve got to try to have a better balance long-term for us to be successful, we just have to be smarter with some of the decisions we make.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 7:18 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina coach Chadwell still mulling quarterback options."