’Coach Foster called it.’ Meet the CCU cornerback leading the nation in interceptions
If you saw Coastal Carolina junior cornerback D’Jordan Strong during the team’s break from football activities due to the coronavirus in the spring and early summer, chances are he was carrying and tossing a football.
Strong joined the Chanticleers from Northeast Mississippi Community College in January, in time for CCU’s early spring practices in February and early March.
During those sessions, defensive backs coach Bryant Foster was impressed with Strong’s ability to cover wide receivers, and he also noted that Strong was dropping the ball a lot.
Strong had just one interception in two years of JUCO football – though he notes he had a 100-yard interception return negated by a penalty – while playing predominantly single man-to-man coverage.
“I used to drop a lot of balls in the spring, and coach Foster texted me when coronavirus was going on big-time and said, ‘Hey man, don’t think I’m being funny, but you get you a football and just walk around and throw it in the air and catch it and see how it feels. Man, you could lead the conference in interceptions this season and be a first-team Sun Belt cornerback because you’ve got the ability to do it. If you just do this one little thing you’ve got potential to be something,’ ” Strong recalled.
“That’s what I did, and now I’ve got five interceptions and that’s crazy because coach Foster called it.”
Entering this season, the biggest question and concern regarding a position group, particularly on defense, was the secondary. It lost 2019 senior cornerbacks Chandler Kryst and Mallory Claybourne, returned a total of 24 games started at its four positions, and wasn’t particularly good last season, allowing opponents to complete 70 percent of their passes.
“I’ve said all along we’ve got a lot of pieces that have come back . . . but he might have been the most important piece, and we probably didn’t realize it at the time,” CCU head coach Jamey Chadwell said of Strong. “But he has made that secondary because of his mindset, because of his work ethic and really just his personality and the way he loves to play, he has brought a little swag back there to those guys, and we didn’t have that last year. He’s been tremendous and he’s awesome. I love him.”
Strong’s five interceptions are tied with Northwestern’s Brandon Joseph for the national college football lead.
He has twice intercepted two passes in a game, getting a pair in both Saturday’s 34-23 win against Appalachian State and a 28-14 win over Georgia Southern on Oct. 24.
Strong also has four pass breakups and a forced fumble among his 17 tackles, and he’s thoroughly enjoying Coastal (8-0, 6-0 in the Sun Belt Conference) being undefeated and No. 20 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.
“I love playing football. It’s hard to explain how much I love playing football,” Strong said. “. . . I’ve never been undefeated up until this point. I’ve never even played football past like November 11th. This is most definitely the best football I’ve ever played and the most fun I’ve ever had playing.”
Finding Coastal Carolina
Strong grew up in Batesville, Miss., and played receiver and cornerback at South Panola High. He first heard of Coastal Carolina when alumnus Josh Norman was playing at an All-Pro level as a cornerback with the Carolina Panthers from 2012-15, and became more familiar when the Chants made their run to the 2016 College World Series baseball national title.
Strong was forced to attend Northeast Mississippi Community College for two years because of poor grades, particularly through his sophomore year.
He committed to Arkansas State before attending the JUCO, but when assistants at Arkansas State who were recruiting him left the program, Strong opened up his recruitment and had numerous offers including CCU, Hawaii, Charlotte, Old Dominion and Western Kentucky.
“Being in JUCO and only winning four total games in two years, I wanted to go somewhere to win, and I saw Coastal had back-to-back years at 5-7, and with the same guys coming back I knew we could do something special,” Strong said. “I saw the corner group lost two seniors . . . and I knew I had a chance to compete for a starting job and could try to be a leader for the secondary.”
Strong said he was impressed with the existing talent in the CCU secondary when he arrived, but identified areas where he could help them improve.
“Last year when I came on my visit it didn’t really seem like there was enough communication, enough confidence out there when they were playing,” Strong said. “I knew when I came in I could get my voice around and help people feel better about themselves, be out there and be confident, have fun, have swag and go out there and do what we do.”
Making an impact
The Chants have 11 interceptions as a team to rank seventh nationally and 19 pass breakups through eight games compared to 11 picks and 26 breakups last season in 12 games. The Chants allow 179.4 passing yards per game, which is 11th in the country.
“We trust one another more than last year’s unit,” Strong said. “I don’t feel there was enough trust going on before I was here. I feel we trust each other, go out there with swag and have fun, and we communicate. I think that was the biggest thing was communication. Once we got that we became a better unit.”
The secondary has been aided by pressure against opposing quarterbacks, as the Chants have 28 sacks among 55 tackles for loss and 34 quarterback hurries. Last season, CCU registered 20 sacks, 66 TFLs and 36 hurries on the season.
“Without [the defensive line] rushing the quarterback I probably wouldn’t be in those positions, but I’m grateful and thankful to those guys putting me in the situation to make those plays,” Strong said. “Every game I go in trying to be disciplined and do my job. If I do my job I know I can win my battle each and every play to put us in a better situation to win the games.”
Strong hasn’t been flawless. On Saturday, he got burned in single coverage by Christian Wells on a 25-yard pass for a touchdown down the right sideline with 9 seconds left in the first half that gave the Mountaineers a 17-9 halftime lead.
But he made amends in the second half with a pair of picks – one in the third quarter and another that he returned for a touchdown with 1:20 to play for the game’s final score.
“He comes to work every day to try to get better,” Chadwell said. “He studies and does what he’s supposed to do so when he’s in position he can make the play. He does care, he works and he’s put the work in to be a good player and make those plays.”
Coastal moved its spring practices up this year and was one of just two FBS teams – along with Connecticut – to complete a month of practices before COVID-19 forced teams to vacate campuses, and that helped Strong become acclimated to the CCU defense and its schemes and be more ready to play by the opening game.
“I was able to get myself in the playbook and learn the plays and see how things would progress for me,” Strong said. “Having that spring practice was big towards us and my success this season.”
It also allowed him to leave his imprint on the program sooner rather than later.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that you’ve made an impact on so many others because honestly I’m just doing what I love,” Strong said. “I love making people laugh, I love having high energy, I love [leading] and putting my guys in this situation. . . . My teammates tell me how they appreciate how I uplift them at practice and try to get them to have fun playing this game because tomorrow is not guaranteed.”
Strong is thankful when he reflects on his journey to Conway and his role in a historic CCU season.
“Coming from South Panola to JUCO it was tough getting over that hump I was going through,” Strong said. “Once I was in JUCO I knew I was supposed to be there because of how good I was. It was crazy. I’m blessed to be here. It’s surreal every day, every time I wake up being here. It was a crazy journey but it was a blessing in disguise.”
Perhaps a bigger blessing for the Chants.
Saturday’s game
What: No. 20 Coastal Carolina (8-0, 6-0 Sun Belt Conference) at Texas State (2-9, 2-5 SBC)
When: 3 p.m. (Eastern)
Where: Bobcats Stadium, San Marcos, Texas
Broadcast: Online on ESPN+
Radio: WRNN 99.5 FM
Online: www.goccusports.com
This story was originally published November 25, 2020 at 12:12 PM.
