CCU Athletics Notebook: Significant milestones can be reached Saturday vs. Texas State
While Coastal Carolina can’t hit any substantial team goals this season, some players will be able to reach personal milestones in Saturday’s season finale against Texas State at Brooks Stadium.
Junior C.J. Marable is 36 yards from 1,000 rushing yards this season and senior Ky’Jon Tyler is 32 yards from 1,000 career receiving yards.
Marable would be the fourth CCU player to rush for 1,000 in a season joining De’Angelo Henderson (2014, ’15 and ’16), Lorenzo Taliaferro (2013) and Patrick Hall (2004).
He said he has worked this season and past offseason to be a more complete running back including blocking and receiving to the point he is second on the team with 36 receptions and is comfortable lining up as a slot receiver.
“C.J. has been our most consistent player all year long, whether that’s running the ball, trying to throw the ball to him out of the backfield, he’s been our most consistent playmaker,” CCU head coach Jamey Chadwell said. “For him to have the opportunity to hit that rushing [mark] speaks a lot about him and his work ethic and what he did this offseason to put himself in position to be the main guy. Whether he gets there or not, he’s had a tremendous season for us and the load he’s had to carry.”
Tyler, a fifth-year senior who has an undergraduate degree and is going to earn a Master’s at Coastal, according to Chadwell, would be the 11th Chant to record 1,000 or more receiving yards.
“Ky’Jon has been a standout for us for a long time,” Chadwell said. “Injuries have sort of derailed what probably was going to be an outstanding career for him. He’s stuck to us and been a really good leader for us.”
Chadwell said he doesn’t envision calling plays in an attempt to intentionally help the players reach their 1,000-yard milestones unless the outcome of the game is determined late.
“We will not go into the game saying we’ve got to get this guy 1,000 yards here or there. If it happens naturally, it happens naturally,” Chadwell said. “The main thing is we’re going to try to win the game and do what we can to win.”
“ . . . If we’re in a situation where we are winning the game and one of those guys are short 5 yards here or there, then heck yeah we’ll try to get that accomplished for them, but only to the point where the game’s outcome has already been determined.”
Senior tackle Ethan Howard doesn’t believe Marable’s milestone will be an issue. “Thirty-six, we’ll make that happen for sure, pretty quick,” Howard said. “. . . I don’t really care about my accolades or what happens to me as long as the dudes behind me are having a good time and are balling out. That’s really all we care about, anyone that plays offensive line. That’s kind of the mentality.”
A broken record
Sophomore wide receiver Jaivon Heiligh has already hit a milestone, setting the school record with receptions in a game with 12 for 107 yards in Coastal’s 36-35 win over Troy on Nov. 2.
That performance quickly made him the top receiver on the team, as he now has 45 receptions for 488 yards and three touchdowns, which are second on the team to tight end Isaiah Likely’s four. He leads the team by nine receptions and 164 receiving yards.
The previous record of 10 catches was held by five players, including former CCU stars Jerome Simpson and Bruce Mapp.
“I would rather win than get a record,” Heiligh said. “Records are awesome and every record is meant to be broken. I learned that early. So it was awesome, and I feel if I’m given those opportunities I could do it on a consistent basis. But if we’re not winning what am I breaking all those records for.”
Heiligh is actually accustomed to setting records. As a senior at Class 7A state champion Venice High he set Florida state single-season records with 131 receptions, 2,359 receiving yards and 32 receiving touchdowns, and his 252 career receptions is also a Florida state record.
In 2018, he finished 54 receptions, 496 yards and 10 receiving touchdowns ahead of the players who finished second in those categories in the state while catching passes from CCU sophomore QB Bryce Carpenter, who was Florida’s Mr. Football that season.
He ranks second in Florida history with 3,964 career receiving yards and 53 career receiving TDs. In the 2017 championship game, he caught eight of Carpenter’s 10 completions for 159 yards and finished second to Carpenter for the state 7A Player of the Year.
In his high school career, Carpenter accounted for 10,463 yards and 137 TDs as he threw for 7,047 yards and 83 touchdowns while rushing for 3,416 yards and 54 scores.
Seniors’ last stand
Prior to kickoff, the football program’s 10 seniors will be recognized: Josh Anderson, Shadell Bell, Antawn Chandler, Mallory Claybourne, Howard, Sterling Johnson, Chandler Kryst, Riley Patton, Laqavious Paul and Tyler.
“They have done a lot for our program and been a part of this transition to FBS,” Chadwell said. “So there’s a lot for our guys to play for as they leave out of here with the legacy that they’ve started for our program and will continue to move on after this game.”
ESPN to televise
The 2019 Sun Belt Conference Football Championship Game at noon Saturday, Dec. 7 will be televised on ESPN, immediately following the ESPN College GameDay pregame show.
East Division champion Appalachian State and West Division champion Louisiana have already secured spots in the game. Appalachian State (10-1) will host the game with a win at Troy on Friday and Louisiana (9-2) will host with a win against Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday combined with an App. State loss.
Holiday hoops
The CCU women’s basketball team is hosting the four-team Coastal Carolina Thanksgiving Classic that includes Richmond, George Mason and Bradley from Friday through Sunday at the HTC Center.
On Friday, CCU (4-0) will face Richmond (4-2) at 2 p.m. and Bradley (4-1) will face George Mason (4-2) at 4 p.m., and on Sunday, Richmond-Bradley will tip off at 11:30 a.m. followed by CCU-George Mason at 2 p.m.
CCU’s 4-0 start matches the best under coach Jaida Williams and consists of wins over Arkansas Pine Bluff, UNC Greensboro, Wofford and Western Carolina.
Junior guard Zacharyia Esmon leads three Chants in double-figures with 15.5 points per game. Sophomore forward Aja Blount averages 14 points and senior guard D.J. Williams averages 12.5 points and 7 rebounds per game.
Volleyball falls
The second-seeded CCU volleyball team fell 3-1 to top-seeded Texas State (24-8) in the Sun Belt tournament championship match (24-8) Sunday, so it missed out on the automatic NCAA tournament berth that comes with the conference tournament title, which CCU won in 2016 and 2017.
The Chants now hope the NCAA volleyball selection committee will give the Sun Belt a second team. CCU is 24-6 with wins over Virginia and Iowa this season. The 2019 NCAA bracket will be announced Sunday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
If the Chants aren’t selected for the tournament, their resume could warrant a selection for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship – a volleyball version of the men’s basketball NIT – featuring 32 to 40 of the top teams not participating in the NCAA tournament. The NIVC announces its teams late Sunday night.
Soccer ousted
The CCU men’s soccer team went into double overtime for the third consecutive match on Sunday but was unable to get a third straight win and fell to Southern Methodist University 1-0 in Dallas in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
SMU (17-1-1), ranked fifth in the United Soccer Coaches poll, scored off a rebound with 3 minutes left in the second overtime just a few minutes after the Chants had a shot from within the penalty box stopped.
CCU (10-8-3) had defeated Georgia State in penalty kicks in the Sun Belt championship game to make its 13th NCAA tournament appearance under coach Shaun Docking, and beat N.C. State 3-2 on a Tyrone Mondi goal with 6:30 left in the second overtime in the first round.
Saturday’s Game
Who: Texas State (3-8, 2-5 Sun Belt Conference) at Coastal Carolina (4-7, 1-6)
When: Noon
Where: Brooks Stadium, Conway
TV/Radio: ESPN+, WRNN 99.5 FM
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 11:08 PM.
