Coastal Carolina QB returns to school years later after “young, dumb me wanted more”

Dalton Demos spent two years as a quarterback at Coastal Carolina University before deciding there may be better opportunities for him elsewhere.

The more time passed, however, the more he regretted the decision.

So when Demos was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA because of injuries after graduating from Northern Iowa last winter, he knew exactly where he wanted to spend his final season of college football.

More than three years after leaving the Conway campus, Demos contacted head coach Joe Moglia and has returned as a grad student who has been a regular contributor at the QB position through Coastal’s first three games.

“It was a rash decision looking back,” Demos said. “I feel like young, dumb me wanted more and I thought by leaving and doing the junior college route I could end up at a bigger school and maybe have a bigger role, and in hindsight I wish I would have stayed here the entire time.

“… I gave coach Joe a call and kind of asked him out of the blue and he was willing to work with me and we found a way. It took a lot, but I finally made my way back.”

Demos has been primarily a running quarterback who has spelled starter Tyler Keane.

He was a major factor in Coastal’s season-opening win over Massachusetts, the team’s first over a Football Bowl Championship program, scoring Coastal’s first two touchdowns and gaining 28 yards on seven carries while completing his only pass for 2 yards.

He was second on the team with 51 rushing yards in the second game at Alabama-Birmingham and on the season he has rushed for 78 yards on 20 carries and completed 3 of 10 passes for 27 yards with an interception.

“He can really run. I think he’s pretty dynamic with the football, but his passing has been inconsistent,” said CCU offensive coordinator and interim head coach Jamey Chadwell. “I think that has been the biggest challenge for him is getting confident where we can use him a little bit more in the passing game. If he could be [more consistent] then I think there’s a great chance for him to make a lot of plays.”

Demos, who is 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, has returned a different person. His maturity has made an impression, particularly with coaches who were in the program during his first stint at CCU.

“One of the things they’ve commented on several times is how much more maturity he has coming back, and his head’s on his shoulders, so I do think that has allowed him to play because he does understand what his role is,” Chadwell said. “He does understand he’s coming back and he’s thankful for being back and he’s just looking to find a way to contribute.”

Demos was recruited to Coastal as a dual-threat quarterback who was one of the top-ranked passers in Missouri in 2011 after throwing for 2,764 yards and 34 touchdowns as a senior at Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis.

He redshirted as a freshman and played in 13 of CCU’s 15 games in his second year predominantly as a running QB out of a shotgun formation. He completed 4 of 7 passes for 56 yards and a TD and rushed 13 times for 85 yards and a TD.

“Whatever needed to be done I would go out there and do it,” Demos said. “I played a little wildcat, played a little receiver, played a little two-point conversion guy.”

Demos opted to transfer from Coastal and played the 2014 season as the starting quarterback at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas, leading the team to an 11-1 record while completing 55 percent of his passes for 1,120 yards and 15 touchdowns.

He tore the ACL in his left knee late in the season at Hutchinson yet still received an offer from Northern Iowa. Another ACL tear in the left knee after just four games at UNI in 2015 ended his season and essentially his career there. He had one catch while playing wide receiver and on special teams in the four games.

“Once we got up there I was beat out of the quarterback position and we were lacking at wide receiver, so I said to the coach, “I can run a little bit. Let me at least try it,’ ” Demos said. “… I got hurt again and didn’t touch the field again.”

For his second surgery, the patellar tendon in his right knee was used to replace his left ACL and the recovery went into and through the 2016 season.

Demos applied for a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA for an additional year, which he received and learned was transferable.

“Being hurt two times you kind of get stuck in the back of the depth chart and it’s hard to work your way back up,” Demos said. “I figured this was kind of a new way to start fresh – old but still fresh, so I wanted to give it a shot.

“People ask me all the time why I keep playing. But this is what I do. This is what I love to do. Football is inside of me and to give up because of an injury didn’t really seem like the way I want it to end.”

Demos saw that CCU had a rash of injuries and went seven quarterbacks deep last year and hoped he’d have an opportunity at the position.

“I thought, ‘You know at least I can go help out,’ and I always wanted to be back here, I really missed coach Joe and the way he did things,” Demos said. “And then with coach Jamey’s [option] system coming in it kind of played to my strengths as a runner. That’s kind of what I am now, I’m the option guy.”

Demos was part of an eight-person competition for the starting quarterback position in preseason camp. “We all have different strengths and weaknesses, and the best part about the whole thing is we’ve all been able to stay close and there area no rivalries in there, which is hard to come by,” Demos said. “We see each other on the weekends and stuff. It’s a great group of guys in there.”

Demos earned a Communications degree at UNI and plans to remain at CCU for a couple years to earn a Master’s in sports management before seeking a career that keeps him in athletics, possibly sports administration.

“I think that is perfect for me because I want to still be a part of sports when I’m done with everything and I also want to be around people a lot,” Demos said. “I think I would be good at dealing with different players and dealing with coaches, I think it would play to my strengths.”

He believes he has rediscovered the right place for him to pursue his higher education and have one final collegiate experience on the football field.

“You can’t beat this coastal weather, the facilities are amazing and guys take care of us here,” Demos said “Jumping up to the FBS level is what we all wanted, to be a Division I football player, and that’s what we are. It’s exactly what I want.”

This story was originally published September 28, 2017 at 8:08 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina QB returns to school years later after “young, dumb me wanted more”."