Bradshaw making an impression with CCU football in spring

With many of Coastal Carolina’s usual standouts limited by injury or sidelined as a precaution during spring practice these last few weeks, the player generating the most buzz from teammates and coaches has been a 5-foot-7, 140-pound receiver who has never played a regular-season snap for the Chanticleers.

And in the team’s annual spring game Saturday, junior Gary Bradshaw earned the attention of the fans as well.

In what ended up as the offensive highlight of the day, Bradshaw hauled in a 36-yard touchdown pass in stride from senior quarterback Michael Church, albeit in a losing effort as the Black team defeated Bradshaw’s White team, 25-10, in the Chants’ end of spring scrimmage before several hundred spectators at Myrtle Beach’s Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium.

“I’m really known as a speedster. I just want to show them that I can be more than a speedster,” Bradshaw said. “I can catch the ball, run after the catch, especially contribute on special teams. I know that’s really where I’m going to make most of my [impact] at, but [I want to] show them I can be more than a special teams player and contribute on offense as well.”

Coastal Carolina’s top receivers Bruce Mapp and John Israel didn’t play in the game due to injury, but even with the Chants’ significant depth at that position Bradshaw is making a legitimate push for playing time – while also becoming one of the more interesting stories entering the season ahead.

After starting his collegiate football career at Division II University of Charleston in West Virginia, Bradshaw left to move closer to his family in Columbia, S.C. He didn’t want to give up football, though, so he said he arrived at Coastal Carolina last spring and went through the Chants’ walk-on tryouts to earn a spot on the team.

He had to sit out last season, but he’s ready to make his mark this fall.

“Coastal was my No. 1 choice coming out of high school, but then I took the offer that [Charleston] gave me. So I prayed hard, talked to my family members about it, they wanted me to come back home so I was like, ‘Let’s do it,’” he said. “... They had a tryout and I was like, ‘Let’s do it. I’m not done with football.’ And the coaches, they accepted me in, told me I had to sit out [last] year and just continue to get better and in the spring show [well at] all the practices.

“Basically I made all the practices my games, so I went in and that was my game. I just took advantage of it and now I’m ready to play.”

Chants offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude said Bradshaw made a strong impression all spring and could very well earn a role in the offense this coming season.

“He’s probably the most improved player we’ve had in the spring,” Patenaude said. “He’s jet fast. He’s probably the fastest kid that we have. He’s really little, he’s very elusive, I think he probably had six or seven touchdown catches in the spring, everything from catching a slant and turning it up for a 40-yarder to balls over the top like that.

“Very explosive. [He’s] really just getting an idea of what we do. We’ve played him inside and outside. He’s a guy you can motion into the backfield and run a jet sweep with or pitch an option to, and he’ll definitely be a return guy too.”

Summers leads defensive effort

The star on the other side of the ball was cornerback Kamron Summers, one of two returning starters in the Chants’ secondary.

Summers, who will be a junior next season, grabbed an interception on a tipped pass and later stripped a fumble while hurdling a player and returning it to the 12 for the White team to set up a field goal.

“I’m just taking the opportunity I have and taking advantage of it, every play I can make,” Summers said. “... I’m just trying to stay consistent, sharpen up and feel more comfortable in the position.”

Summers finished last season with three interceptions and tied for the team lead with 10 pass break-ups and will be counted on even more heavily in 2015 as the team’s top corner.

“You can see Kam just growing,” defensive coordinator Clayton Carlin said. “We pushed him this winter to be a better student of the game, recognizing formations and recognizing splits and things like that. I think he’s taken to that and that will get him to the next level.”

Roundup

The special teams performance was lackluster, including a rough series when sophomore Caleb Kelly fumbled the snap on a punt attempt and had it returned for a touchdown by the Black team’s Devin Brown only to have sophomore Masamitsu Ishibashi then get the extra point attempt blocked.

While he said no decisions have been made yet on who will fill the team’s open kicking, punting and long snapping roles, Chants head coach Joe Moglia said he wasn’t overly concerned at this point.

“I’m not going to make excuses for that, but the way we set up the game, when we practice special teams there’s no black and white team,” Moglia said. “So when we went black and white today, that was it. They weren’t pulling guys from the [other] team. ... They’re not our normal units. So I’m not as concerned about that as I would be if that was the regular first or second team.”

Moglia said the team incurred no injuries Saturday in its spring finale.

As for the unofficial stats, redshirt-freshman quarterback Josh Stilley was 7-of-11 passing for 94 yards, no touchdowns and one interception to lead the Black team, senior Michael Church was 8-of-14 for 92 yards, one touchdown and one pick for the White team and sophomore Myrtle Beach High School product Tyler Keane was 5-for-10 for 53 yards.

Junior Kenneth Daniels was credited as the leading rusher with 15 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown while junior starter De’Angelo Henderson picked up 41 yards in six carries.

Full receiving stats were not available. Defensively, redshirt-freshman linebacker Sedrick Palmer was credited with a game-high six tackles and sophomore safety Kerron Johnson also notched an interception.

“I feel good about it. We were able to play our top guys – they probably had 15 snaps or so – I was pretty pleased with that,” Moglia said. “I think we were able to get a lot of guys a lot of work. I feel pretty pleased with that. We made far too many mistakes with regards to penalties. That’s going to hurt us. We can’t do that.

“Certainly we made mistakes, but I think we can correct most of those. We’ve got to get rid of the penalties and we’ve got to be a little bit more effective, but I was pleased with the spring game.”

This story was originally published April 11, 2015 at 10:19 PM with the headline "Bradshaw making an impression with CCU football in spring."