Will this be the signing class that propels CCU to FBS success? Chadwell believes so
With his first early signing class, Coastal Carolina head football coach Jamey Chadwell believes he has provided a necessary upgrade to the talent level in the program.
The Chanticleers signed 19 players to national letters of intent on Wednesday, including four junior college transfers and 13 players rated three stars by national recruiting services, which appears to easily be an all-time high for the program.
“I think we arguably signed a really highly-rated class,” Chadwell said. “. . . A lot of these kids were recruited heavily by a lot of different people and they chose us fortunately for what we’re building here.”
The Chanticleers went 5-7 overall in 2019 for the second consecutive season and have finished 2-6 in the Sun Belt Conference in each of their three seasons since moving up to the Football Bowl Subdivision level from the Football Championship Subdivision.
Chadwell is entering his second season as head coach but this is his first true recruiting class because he was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach in January after CCU had already signed the bulk of its 2019 class.
“Hopefully it ends up being a good class. We think it is,” Chadwell said. “We think it’s the foundation that we need to win a Sun Belt championship.”
Eleven scholarship signees are on defense and eight are on offense.
The Chants added two cornerbacks, five linebackers, three defensive ends and a nose guard defensively, and three running backs, two wide receivers, a tight end and two offensive linemen offensively.
The recruits are from eight states, predominantly in the Southeast, including three from South Carolina, and one is from Canada via a junior college.
“I think we’ve brought in some guys that will have an immediate opportunity to play, that will help fill some immediate needs right away, which was big,” Chadwell said. “. . . We had a lot of young guys play this year and there were some specific needs where we just didn’t have a lot of depth or talent there, so we tried to replace that as much as we could with quality people.”
Ten will enroll at Coastal in January so they will participate in spring practices.
“We wanted to try to impact our team immediately, meaning bringing in some players in January,” Chadwell said. “We wanted to get some guys coming in early so they could go through spring and start learning our system, especially at some specific areas we needed help.”
Areas of need Chadwell believes he addressed include defensive back, defensive line and running back. He expects to add an offensive skill player, at least one more offensive linemen and the best available defensive players during the signing period that begins Feb. 6.
Chadwell said he has up to seven more scholarships to give and he’ll also undoubtedly add some preferred walk-ons who were recruited.
No quarterbacks were signed. Rising juniors Fred Payton and Bryce Carpenter have been competing for the starting job over the past year, and the Chants signed signal-callers Grayson McCall of Indian Trail, N.C., and Jarrett Guest of Marietta, Ga., in the 2019 class.
Chadwell expects the four JUCO transfers to make immediate impacts.
Defensive end Wilt Gabe II (6-3, 250) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; cornerback D’Jordan Strong (5-11, 175) of Batesville, Mississippi; wide receiver Fred Jackson (5-10, 185) of Lake Minneola, Florida; and running back Shermari Jones (6-1, 215) of Cantonment, Florida, are all coming from junior colleges in Kansas, Mississippi and New Mexico.
“We wanted to try to get some guys that could provide immediate help because we felt like we needed that to continue to build the program,” Chadwell said. “You don’t want to live and die by that because you do have to build your program long-term, so we tried to bring in guys specifically for where we know we have immediate need.”
Four current CCU scholarship players have entered the NCAA Transfer Portal in an attempt to leave the program – two backup players and two that didn’t play at all in 2019 – and Chadwell said the Chants are after a few players in the portal but he believes they are competing with other programs for them so they’re waiting on decisions.
“There are a couple we’re on, but everybody else is on them too so we’ll just have to see how that shakes out,” Chadwell said.
Transfers sign financial aid agreements but not letters of intent, so they aren’t bound to attend after committing and won’t be counted as members of the team until they enroll.
Graduate transfers can play immediately but undergraduates will likely have to sit out a season unless they receive a hardship waiver to play immediately from the NCAA. Some grad and JUCO transfers may be eligible to enroll in January.
Chadwell said he expects the coaching staff to undergo some changes this offseason but none have occurred yet.
CCU’s 2020 Early Signing Class
Offense
▪ RB – CJ Beasley+ (5-10 * 175 * Norfolk, Va./Maury HS): ESPN’s No. 73 RB in the class of 2020. Rushed for 1,808 yards and 24 TDs on 216 carries as a senior to help his team win the Virginia Class 5A state title with a 15-0 record, its first title since 1939.
▪ RB – Braydon Bennett+ (6-2 * 180 * Greenville, S.C./Southside HS): Top-40 prospect in S.C. by 247Sports. Played RB, WR and safety at Southside High and missed nearly all of 2019 with injury after leading Class 3A in rushing in 2018 with 2,048 yards and 29 TDs on 214 carries. Two-time state and AAU Club Nationals champion in the 110m hurdles (2018, 2019) also plans to run track at CCU. Son of former USC and NFL player Brandon Bennett.
▪ RB – Shermari Jones (6-1 * 215 * Cantonment, Fla./Independence C.C./Tate HS): In two seasons at Independence CC in Kansas, rushed for 873 yards and 9 TDs and caught six passes.
▪ WR – Tyson Mobley (6-0 * 170 * Longwood, Fla./Master’s Academy): Invited to play in the Florida vs. Georgia HS Showcase and Central Florida All-Star Game. Caught 40 passes for 857 yards and 12 TDs as a senior, with 1,126 all-purpose yards and three interception returns for TDs for a Class 2A state title team. Father John Mobley played 8 seasons with the Denver Broncos, winning two Super Bowls.
▪ WR – Fred Jackson (5-10 * 185 * Lake Minneola, Fla./New Mexico Military Institute/Lake Minneola HS): A 2019 NJCAA All-America honorable mention as a return specialist. Totaled 2,579 all-purpose yards in two years at NMMI with 1,024 rushing yards, 480 receiving yards and 1,075 kick return yards.
▪ TE – Logan Mauldin+ (6-3 * 220 * Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park HS): Lined up at WR and TE and caught 17 passes for 294 yards and five touchdowns his senior season.
▪ OL – Willie Lampkin+ (6-1 * 295 * Lakeland, Fla./Lakeland HS): Blocked for Clemson signee Demarkcus Bowman, ranked No. 2 among 2020 RBs by 247Sports and Rivals. Was the Class 3A state runner-up at 285 pounds in wrestling.
▪ OL – Tyler Wagner+ (6-5 * 285 * Lilburn, Ga./Parkview HS): Blocked for 7-7A Region Player of the Year and Touchdown Club of Gwinnett All-County Running Back of the Year Cody Brown, who rushed for 1,600 yards and 20 TDS in 2019. Also lettered in basketball.
Defense
▪ NG – Rayquan Jones+ (6-1 * 285 * Rome, Ga./Rome HS): Totaled 37 tackles, including 21 solo stops, 8 sacks and 12 tackles for loss over his last two seasons at Rome High. Part of two state title teams.
▪ DE –James Johnson+ (6-2 * 245 * Port St. Lucie, Fla./Vero Beach HS): Ranked a top-100 defensive end in the class of 2020 by 247Sports Composite. Totaled 66 tackles, 13 for loss, 3.5 sacks and 13 QB hurries over his final two years at Vero Beach High.
▪ DE –Wilt Gabe II (6-3 * 250 * Montreal, Quebec/Independence C.C./Montmorency College): Will have three seasons of eligibility. Played sparingly at Independence Community College in Kansas. Made the 2017 Elite Combine Series Quebec Invite List his senior year of high school.
▪ DE – Braylon Ryan+ (6-2 * 240 * Greenwood, S.C./Greenwood HS): Played DE and TE for Greenwood High. Named all-state as a senior TE and also had 80 tackles including 15 for loss and 14 sacks.
▪ LB – Shane Bruce+ (6-0 * 210 * Carrollton, Ga./Central HS): Played OLB and RB at Central High and was named the 2019 Georgia 5-4A All-Region Co-Defensive Player of the Year after recording 86 tackles, including 62 solo stops, and two interceptions.
▪ LB – Mason Shelton+ (6-2 * 215 * Maryville, Tenn./Maryville HS): Ranked No. 37 overall prospect in Tennessee in the class of 2020 by Rivals. Won two state titles and as a senior had 129 tackles, including 62 solo, 17 for loss, 6.5 sacks, 5 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
▪ OLB – Shon Brown+ (6-2 * 220 * Clover, S.C./Clover HS): Rated as high as No. 23 prospect in SC in class of 2020, recorded 72 tackles, 24 for loss, 7 QB hurries 2 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery as a senior.
▪ OLB – Aaron Diggs+ (5-11 * 200 * Auburn, Ala./Auburn HS): Played safety, LB and RB at Auburn High. Switched from defense to offense early in senior season and rushed 268 times for 1,605 yards and 19 TDs and caught 19 passes for 485 yards and 7 TDs. Born in Germany, he has also lived in Texas, Georgia and Hawaii.
▪ OLB – Isaiah Stephens (6-3 * 185 * Daleville, Va./Lord Botetourt HS): Named the 2019 Virginia Region D Player of the Year and the 2019 Blue Ridge District Player of the Year after recording 138 total tackles including 46 for loss and 28.5 sacks as a senior.
▪ CB – Manny Stokes Jr.+ (5-10 * 165 * Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona HS): Named the DB MVP at the Nike Opening Camp in Orlando Florida in the spring of 2019 and was invited to play in the Florida vs. Georgia HS Showcase and Central Florida All-Star Game. As a senior totaled 1,533 all-purpose yards and had three returns for touchdowns, four interceptions, five pass breakups, and two forced fumbles.
▪ CB – D’Jordan Strong (5-11 * 175 * Batesville, Miss./Northeast Mississippi C.C./South Panola HS): Ranked No. 25 CB in the JUCO class of 2020 by 247Sports and No. 32 prospect in Mississippi in the class of 2018 by Rivals. Part of a defensive unit in 2019 that led the NJCAA in passing defense at 126.6 passing yards allowed per game.
+ Rated three stars by ESPN, Rivals or 247Sports
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 3:52 PM.
