ESPN’s GameDay visits CCU, but will a national audience see QB Grayson McCall play?
Coastal Carolina head football coach Jamey Chadwell said early Wednesday afternoon that he is “cautiously optimistic” that redshirt sophomore quarterback Grayson McCall will be able to return to the starting lineup Saturday at Georgia State.
McCall led the Chanticleers (5-0), who are ranked 20th and 21st in the AP and Amway Coaches top 25 polls this week, to their first four wins but missed last week’s win over Georgia Southern with an upper body injury.
Junior Fred Payton started his 11th game at CCU in his absence and completed 15 of 28 passes for 252 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
“[McCall] has still not been able to practice in a full capacity yet so we’re cautiously optimistic that’s going to happen but also preparing like it’s not,” Chadwell said. “Whoever plays will be ready to go this Saturday.”
Coastal’s offense has been both explosive and efficient under McCall.
McCall entered last weekend third in college football in QB Rating (passing efficiency), fifth in total QBR, third in passing yards per completion (15.76) and per attempt (10.69), 10th in passing touchdowns (11) and 13th in completion percentage (67.8).
He had turned the ball over twice in four games with a fumble and interception and was sacked just twice.
Payton was sacked three times and was intercepted twice by Georgia Southern in the first half alone Saturday. But he was not sacked and did not turn the ball over in the second half, when he completed 8 of 16 passes for 90 yards and rushed for 49 yards on five carries after losing 11 yards rushing in the first half.
“We had complete confidence in Fred. We expected him to play at a high level. I knew he was going to be a little rusty, he just needed to get some more playing time.
“. . . When you go out there and that’s your opportunity and you don’t know if you’ll get another one, you want to make the most out of every play because you want to do well. I think you saw that in the second half he really settled down and made some really good decisions for us. I think it’s now understanding he’s comfortable in that role and knowing he doesn’t have to make every play. We’ve got a good defense and if we have to punt, we’ve got to punt. Sometimes that’s the best play a quarterback can make.”
Chadwell and co-offensive coordinators Willy Korn and Newland Isaac will adjust the play-calling accordingly in the spread option offense depending on which QB starts.
“You try to do what your quarterback is comfortable with, what they’re best at,” Chadwell said. “Each quarterback’s got something different, a little bit unique to what they can do or can’t do maybe. So you try to fit what you want to do into what they do best. . . . It changes some. You’ve got your things you like to run no matter what, but you’ve got to make sure your quarterback can execute the things you like. So it does change based on who’s in there.”
Eyes on the Chants
The stream of national media attention on the CCU football program continued this week, as the Chants are being featured online, in print, on the radio and on television by several major media outlets.
Last week, after CCU garnered its first ever FBS national top 25 ranking, Chadwell conducted interviews with ESPN, SiriusXM, ESPNU Radio, Yahoo Sports, ESPN Coastal Radio, SouthernPigskin.com and The Athletic, and former CCU coach and current football executive and athletics chairman Joe Moglia had interviews with ESPN, Sportico, USA Today and The Athletic.
This week, Moglia had interviews with Jim Rome of CBS Sports Radio and Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com, CCU director of athletics Matt Hogue was interviewed by Ryan Magee of ESPN, and Chadwell had interviews with John Feinstein of the Washington Post and Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN, which sent a three-person camera crew to campus for a segment to air on College GameDay on Saturday morning.
“It’s awesome for our fans and really just our university in general to have the attention that comes with being in the top 25,” Chadwell said. “As a head coach I’m realistic, I know it’s a unique year. But I’m thankful we’re in it because it has brought a lot of positive attention on our university and our program and what Coastal is trying to do. . . . We’re going to enjoy being in the top 25 while we can because I know that’s not something that comes around all the time being at our level, the [Group of Five].”
The piece on College GameDay will be seen by a large audience. “GameDay is the thing on a Saturday when you’re waiting on your game everybody turns that on to check it out,” Chadwell said. “It’s pretty cool for our team and our program and the players that got to get in on that. Hopefully we didn’t embarrass ourselves too much by the way we answered the questions. It’s a good deal and something I know our players and our team will be able to cherish for a long time.”
Among other media mentions this week, Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde made a case for the Chants to be ranked ahead of No. 6 Oklahoma State in an article on SI.com.
“It has been nonstop,” said CCU Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations Kevin Davis.
The true benefit may be seen on the field in a couple years and thereafter.
“Recruiting-wise it’s been huge,” Chadwell said. “There are a lot of doors you’ve been trying to get into and you couldn’t get in them, and now some of those doors are opening up. So I really think it’s going to pay dividends for us down the line, especially as you get into the 2022 class and some of those [afterward].”
Internet innovation
Coastal Carolina’s players have become internet sensations.
The ribbing of ESPN analyst Pat McAfee on the field after the Chants’ win over Arkansas State by linebackers Teddy Gallagher and Silas Kelly initially posted on Gallagher’s Twitter page has been viewed nearly 445,000 times.
And the Chants have already outdone that. The team’s WWE-style celebration in the locker room at Brooks Stadium following its win over Georgia Southern on Saturday posted on Kelly’s Twitter page was up to nearly 560,000 views Wednesday.
“I try to let our guys have fun,” Chadwell said. “It’s more for us. We’re not trying to be disrespectful of any opponent. It’s more for our guys in there. It was pretty over the top from that standpoint.
“But it’s hard to win. Especially in 2020 with everything going on. You want your guys to enjoy it and our players have, and our coaches obviously have tried to make what we’re playing for that week mean something, and they’ve done a good job of that.”
Prior to the season, Chadwell assigns a different coach a game during the season to come up with the “trophy” that the team is playing for that is specific to that opponent.
Co-offensive coordinator Willy Korn was assigned the Georgia Southern game and orchestrated a wrestling production featuring a person in a shabby Eagles mascot outfit, referee, ring bell, a pair of wrestlers attacking the mascot, and one in a wrestling singlet sailing airborne off a stepladder onto the mascot on a collapsible table.
The mascot was then submitted in a back-breaker hold and a wrestler ripped open two bottles of water and poured them over his face reminiscent of a Stone Cold Steve Austin celebration.
“Now I don’t know how we ended up with all that stuff in the locker room. I just knew what the theme was so to speak,” Chadwell said. “That was a little bit more than I thought it was going to be. But [Korn] and the strength coaches came up with something like that. I guess they were watching a lot of YouTube videos from the past to figure out all that. They must have acted that out during the week at some point.”
The wrestling parody was likely an homage to previous celebrations by Georgia Southern coach Chad Lunsford, who would drop a “People’s Elbow” on a folding chair on the floor.
Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott hopes to prevent the Chants from making his visitors’ locker room the scene of the next viral Twitter video.
“Well, the only thing I can do as a football coach is try not to get them to celebrate in our locker room,” Elliott said. “More power to them. Listen, winning’s hard, and whenever you win you should really enjoy it. You’ve got to move on quickly so however they celebrate it. If they get the win, man let them go have a great time with it.”
Impact in the community
CCU was awarded the Sun Belt Conference’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Community Impact Award for the 2019-20 academic year.
“This award is a testament of the community involvement our student-athletes enjoy participating in during their tenure at Coastal Carolina University,” Cari Rosiek, CCU senior woman administrator and associate athletic director for student-athlete enhancement, said in a release.
Voted on the Sun Belt Conference SAAC members, Coastal’s participation in a Night to Shine, which provides a prom experience for special needs individuals, was selected as the most impactful event based on three criteria – originality, impact, and reach.
MB Bowl sets date
The inaugural Myrtle Beach Bowl is scheduled to be played at 2:30 p.m. Monday, Dec 21 at Brooks Stadium.
By contract, the game is supposed to feature two teams from the Sun Belt, Conference USA or Mid-American Conference, so Coastal is among the teams eligible to participate.
Ticket information has not been released. Visit http://MyrtleBeachBowlGame.com for more information.
The bowl is scheduled to be played at Brooks Stadium through at least 2025.
Saturday’s Game
What: No. 20/21 Coastal Carolina (5-0, 3-0 Sun Belt Conference) at Georgia State (2-2, 1-2 SBC)
When: Noon
Where: Center Parc Stadium, Atlanta
TV: ESPNU
Radio: WRNN 99.5 FM
Online: www.goccusports.com
This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 3:40 PM.
