New linebacker Brant an immediate fit with Chanticleers

Devon Brant says that when he joined the Coastal Carolina football program this summer, he arrived as a third-string senior linebacker with plenty to prove and little time to get it done.

But he never expected anything less from himself than to win the starting job, and sure enough, he’ll be in the center of the No. 5-ranked Chanticleers’ revamped defense when they open the season Saturday night at Furman.

“I just worked my way up every day,” Brant said. “There was nothing guaranteed. I just had to prove to them I was worthy of a spot.”

His resume alone could have foretold that outcome – he started 13 games over three seasons at Western Michigan and capped his time there with a 10-tackle performance in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl last year – but Brant didn’t take any chances.

As a newcomer to the program, he didn’t just make an immediate impression with his play; he made an audible impact as well, quickly emerging as one of the more vocal players on the defense despite his lack of tenure in the program.

“Devon, he came in, his knowledge of the game is so, so high,” fellow senior linebacker Rayshaud Shields said during camp. “… And he has a motor too. He brings energy. He’s never quiet, he’s always talking, trying to pick everybody up.”

Now playing for his fourth different defensive coordinator during his collegiate career, Brant said it didn’t take him long to adjust to the Chants’ defensive schemes and philosophy because, as he said, “I’ve seen every defense you could see.”

And as for being vocal, that’s just part of the package – on or off the field.

“That’s just how I am. I’m a loud individual so it’s hard for me to be quiet,” he said. “I’m a very intense, passionate person and that’s just how I [live] my life. That’s just me on a regular basis.”

Said Coastal Carolina linebackers coach Ryan Goodman: “He does a really good job of that – getting us in and out of the right checks. He’s a very good leader and the experience we kind of need on defense.”

With three-time Big South Defensive Player of the Year Quinn Backus graduated and the Chants set to debut five new defensive starters in all, Brant immediately becomes a key cog in a unit that despite its personnel turnover has only heightened expectations.

The comments coming from players and coaches over the last month have not indicated any trepidation or concern in filling the significant void of talent that left the roster on that side of the ball.

Frankly, the sentiment has been quite the opposite.

“From a defensive standpoint, I’m optimistic. This is the best I’ve seen our defense play in general,” head coach Joe Moglia said this week. “And we did make a lot of changes in the offseason, there are a lot of adjustments that we made. … [But] I really, really want to see our defense take a whole ’nother step as far as our overall play in the field and I’d like to see our defense be more nationally competitive.”

The Chants showed considerable improvement on the defensive side last season. After giving up 30.5 points and 457.8 yards per game in 2013, they held opponents to an average of 19.6 points (the lowest end-of-season total for the program since 2004) and 389.9 yards last fall.

Having four returning senior starters along the defensive line provides at least some continuity, but the Chants are going to need players like Brant and fellow linebacker Alex Scearce along with new starting safeties Kerron Johnson and Kelvin Deveaux and new starting cornerback Dontay Hears to play just as big a role.

From an outside perspective, that’s a lot of unknowns for one unit entering the first game. But those with the best read on the matter are unrelenting in their optimism.

“From my time here, I’d say the defense has played phenomenal in camp, better than any other year,” sophomore running back De’Angelo Henderson said after watching the Chants’ star-studded offense compete against those guys all camp.

“They’re going to have a great season this year. I’m claiming it right now for them. Just the way they’ve been playing this offseason, camp, spring, preseason, everything, they’ve been playing excellent so I’m excited to see them play myself.”

As for Brant, he’s excited to have this opportunity.

The 5-foot-10, 230-pound linebacker says his decision to leave Western Michigan was purely his own and he could have returned to the program after starting five games in an injury-shortened season last fall.

Instead, he wanted his family in the Miami, Fla., area to have a better chance of traveling to see him play in his final year of eligibility.

“My biggest thing was I was in Michigan so far away from my family. I was up there for like four years and no one from my family has ever traveled to come see a game, it’s so expensive,” he said. “So I figured this was the best opportunity for me for them to see me play my last year. And it’s not really hurting my chances of making it to the next level. It’s what I put in.”

He says he considered about eight schools as a transfer destination before settling on Coastal Carolina, in part because his former high school and Western Michigan teammate Jabarai Bothwell had joined the Chants as a defensive tackle last year.

And so far, the fit has proved well for both Brant and the Chants.

Of course, it’s what happens from here on out that matters most as Coastal Carolina kicks off what can fairly be called the most anticipated season in program history.

“Everyone is chasing greatness so that’s what we’re looking for – to chase greatness and nothing less,” Brant said. “Everyone has their dream about making it to the national championship so we have to take it one game at a time. Our first opponent right now in our season is Furman, so we’re going to focus on that.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 7:05 PM with the headline "New linebacker Brant an immediate fit with Chanticleers."