These senior leaders are returning to the CCU football team. Which players are leaving?
Much of Coastal Carolina’s success during the 2020 football season was attributed to senior leadership.
Many of those seniors are returning to the program, as the Chanticleers will try to replicate a historic 2020 season in 2021.
“Let’s run it back,” said senior long snapper C.J. Schrimpf.
Because of the coronavirus’ impact on the fall semester, the NCAA is granting all fall athletes an extra year of eligibility, as it did for athletes in spring sports in 2020.
So all of CCU’s seniors in eligibility this past season have been given the option of returning to the team, and many have already committed to play next fall.
Associated Press Third-Team All-American defensive lineman C.J. Brewer is among them. Brewer finished the season tied for second on the team and fourth in the Sun Belt with 6.5 sacks, third on the team and eighth in the league with 11 tackles for loss, and fifth on the team with 60 tackles while also recording six quarterback hurries, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He was voted First Team All-Sun Belt Conference.
“I am returning to CCU because I felt like it was best for me and my career with football after college,” said Brewer, who is 6-foot-2 and 280 pounds. “It was best that I come back and put more good film out there for scouts and coaches.”
Brewer was one of the team’s four senior captains, and two others have told The Sun News they are returning as well in offensive lineman Trey Carter and linebacker Teddy Gallagher. Carter was a First Team All-Sun Belt selection who has started 48 consecutive games after redshirting as a freshman, and Gallagher tied for second on the team with 76 tackles, including four for loss, and had four quarterback hurries last season.
Gallagher suggested on Twitter that he expects 20 of 22 starters to return next year, which would mean eight of 10 senior starters are returning with both defensive end Tarron Jackson and running back C.J. Marable declaring for the NFL Draft.
That means the possible return of seniors linebacker Silas Kelly, receivers Sam Denmark and Greg Latushko, and offensive linemen Steven Bedosky and Sam Thompson. Kelly and Thompson said late in the year they were considering a return. Schrimpf and punter and holder Charles Ouverson of Murrells Inlet said they are returning. Bedosky Tweeted “2021 . . . the year of the Chants.”
Tight end Isaiah Likely is considered an NFL prospect after an impressive junior year that included an average of more than 20 yards per catch despite playing most of the season with a foot injury that required postseason surgery, but he told The Sun News earlier this year he was returning and reiterated that on social media.
The returning seniors give CCU 13 returning members of first, second or third All-Sun Belt teams including seven first team members: Carter, Likely, redshirt freshman quarterback Grayson McCall, junior receiver Jaivon Heiligh, Brewer, junior outside linebacker Jeffrey Gunter and junior cornerback D’Jordan Strong.
In addition, offensive lineman Willie Lampkin (6-1, 295) was named to the 247Sports and The Athletic’s freshman All-America teams.
Moving on
Marable has hired agent Kevin Conner and is training at Boost Sports Performance in Nashville, Tennessee for CCU’s Pro Day in March and a possible invitation to the NFL Combine. Jackson has hired agent Chris Turnage and is training at the Michael Johnson Performance center in Texas.
Quarterback Fred Payton, who has started 11 games in three years at CCU, announced he is transferring to Mercer of the FCS Southern Conference, which means he’ll be playing more games in the Carolinas.
At least two players are in the transfer portal: sophomore K.J. Johnson II, who was No. 2 on the depth chart at free safety behind Brayden Matts, and redshirt junior tight end Michael McFarlane, who was Likely’s primary backup.
Johnson had nine tackles and a pass defensed in nine games in 2020 and McFarlane played in all 12 games and had one catch for 15 yards.
Kelly’s comeback rewarded
Kelly, who has not confirmed to The Sun News if he is returning in 2021, has been named one of three 2020 Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Year Award winners by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) in association with the AP and Fiesta Bowl Organization.
Kelly redshirted as a freshman in 2016 and again as a redshirt junior in 2019 when he played in just two games after breaking his hand in the opener and tearing the ACL and meniscus in his left knee in the season’s second game at Kansas.
Following knee surgery, he planned to return to spring practice after rehab but was forced to have a second knee operation to repair the work done on the meniscus.
Kelly (6-4, 230) led the Chants in tackles in 2020 with 80, which was ninth in the Sun Belt, including 6.5 for loss and five sacks, and added an interception. He was named Second Team All-Sun Belt.
“This comes with so much hard work. I’ve put in countless hours of work to be the teammate, player, and person that my teammates needed me to be in order to help my team in the best way that I could,” Kelly said in a news release. “I set my mind to recovering from my injury and contributing in a meaningful way. . . . Everything I’ve gone through has made me the person I am today, and I couldn’t be more thankful for all of the experiences I’ve gained and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. You can do anything you set your mind to.”
The other two winners were Colorado running back Jarek Broussard and Kentucky offensive lineman Kenneth Horsey.
Kelly recorded eight tackles and two sacks against Campbell to earn Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week honors, registered a career-high 12 tackles against South Alabama, had nine stops against Appalachian State and eight against Kansas, No. 19 Louisiana and Georgia Southern.
“Silas displayed character and resilience not only to come back but to do it performing at an all-conference level,” CCU coach Jamey Chadwell said in the release. “His perseverance has been a great example of overcoming adversity and excelling in whatever you put your mind to.”
Best and worst
Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports has ranked the 25 bowl games played this year, and Coastal’s 37-34 overtime loss to Liberty in the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl on Dec. 26 is at the top of his list.
The classic included a late CCU touchdown and two-point conversion to tie the game, bizarre Liberty fumble at the goal line with 41 seconds remaining when the Flames were trying to avoid scoring, and blocked field goal attempt to end the game.
“Man, you got to hand it to Coastal Carolina. They know how to play entertaining football games,” Fornelli wrote.
At the bottom of the list? The inaugural Myrtle Beach Bowl because of the poor matchup of Appalachian State against an overmatched North Texas, which allowed 500 yards rushing, including an FBS bowl-record 319 by Camerun Peoples in a 56-28 drubbing.
DJ off and running
CCU redshirt junior guard DeVante Jones is the frontrunner to be named the 2020-21 Sun Belt Men’s Basketball Player of the Year with a sensational start to the season.
Jones is in the top 15 in the conference in numerous statistics and leads the conference in steals with 4.1 per game, which is second in the nation to Toni Rocak of UC San Diego.
Jones (6-1, 200) is first in the conference in points by more than two points per game with 23.3, ninth in rebounds with 7.2, 15th in field goal percentage at 54.1, sixth in assists with 3.8 – Ebrima Dibba leads CCU and is second in the conference with 5.7 – sixth in free throw percentage at 83.3 and 14th in 3-point field goal percentage at 39.6.
Jones has been named a Mid-Major Player of the Week by College Sports Madness and Sun Belt Player of the Week.
He has led the Chants to a 7-2 record overall and 1-1 mark in the Sun Belt with a split at home against Georgia State (7-2, 1-1) this past weekend. Jones has averaged 28.5 points in the past four games and had 24 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and five steals in an 81-69 win over Georgia State on Friday.
The Chants host South Alabama in back-to-back conference games Friday and Saturday. The HTC Center is limited to 300 ticketed fans this season, not including additional spectators in the second floor Chanticleer Athletic Foundation suites.
The CCU women (3-1) are scheduled to return to the court at South Alabama on Friday and Saturday after having five games canceled or postponed due to coronavirus issues – three non-conference games because of a positive test within the CCU program and two Sun Belt games against Georgia State because of COVID-19 positives within the Panthers program.
Ellis elected to hall
Coastal men’s basketball head coach Cliff Ellis has been elected into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and will be inducted in May.
Ellis is the only coach in NCAA history to have won at least 170 games at four NCAA Division I programs. He has also won conference championships at each school and led those teams – South Alabama, Clemson, Auburn and CCU – to the NCAA Tournament.
Ellis started his Division I head coaching career at South Alabama from 1975-1984 and had a 171-84 (.671) record, which is the highest winning percentage in South Alabama history, and led the Jaguars to three Sun Belt Conference Championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Tennessee native spent 10 years (1994-2004) as the head coach at Auburn, posting a 186-125 (.598) record. He led the Tigers to a school-record 29-4 mark in 1998-99, including a 14-2 mark in the SEC to win the league title, and took the team to the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed, eventually advancing to the Sweet 16. He was named the 1999 Southeastern Conference and National Coach of the Year by six different organizations.
Cooper wins CGA event
CCU men’s golf sophomore Garrett Cooper of Chesnee shot consecutive rounds 3-under-par 69 to claim the 12th Carolinas Young Amateur title Tuesday by a shot over Austin Duncan of York at teh 6,969-yard, par-72 Magnolia Course at Pinewild Country Club in Pinehurst, N.C.
Through rain in the final round, Cooper (6-1, 190) made the turn in the final round at 4 under and played a bogey-free back nine with a birdie on the 18th hole that retained his one-shot lead. The tournament was conducted by the Carolinas Golf Association.
Cooper ranked as high as No. 8 in the South Carolina Junior Golf Association (SCJGA) rankings before enrolling at CCU.
Spring schedules set
The CCU men’s spring golf schedule has been set and includes the General Hackler Championship at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club from March 14-16.
The spring schedule begins at the Florida Gators Invitational from Feb. 12-14. The Chants have another two events in Florida and two in North Carolina before the Sun Belt championship from April 25-28 at the Mystic Creek Golf Club in El Dorado, Arkansas.
The CCU women’s golf team begins the spring at The Battle at Old South in Hilton Head from Jan. 29-31 and will play an additional two events in Florida, two in North Carolina and one in Georgia before the Sun Belt championship at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida from April 18-20.
The CCU indoor track & field schedule begins Jan. 16 at the Gamecock Opener in Columbia and concludes with the Sun Belt championships Feb. 22-23 at the Birmingham (Alabama) CrossPlex followed by the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 12-13 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
CCU’s baseball and softball schedules are still being finalized.
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 12:40 PM.
