CCU Football Notebook: Jones continues breakout season

Coming into this season with three veteran receivers all returning as proven playmakers, it looked like opportunities were going to be limited for the team’s promising younger pass catchers.

Sophomore Chris Jones had a different idea, though.

“We can make it four guys instead of three,” Jones said of his perspective on that matter.

And so far that’s exactly what he’s done.

After shining a week ago with a key touchdown catch, Jones was all over the field Saturday night with a team-high six catches for 96 yards in the No. 1/2-ranked Chanticleers’ 31-17 win over Bryant.

Jones saw extra opportunities Saturday with senior wide receiver John Israel missing the second half due to turf toe and took full advantage.

“He’s done a great job for us. He’s got excellent hands, he’s got good quickness so we expect him to be a good receiver for us,” Moglia said. “So when Chris is in the game, I don’t have any concerns that there’s much of a dropoff at all.”

Speaking after the game, Moglia didn’t have a solid sense for Israel’s status for the Chants’ game this Saturday against Alabama A&M.

“I walked in with John and he told me that it was hurting. It’s turf toe, so those things can be tricky,” he said. “When they hurt, they really, really hurt. I’m not sure quite how long that’s going to take to get better.”

But Jones has proven he’s more than capable when needed. His teammates raved that he was the MVP of preseason camp, and he’s made his mark so far on both special teams (averaging 19.4 yards on eight punt returns) and in the offense where he now has 10 catches for 153 yards (tops among all receivers) and a touchdown.

If Israel misses more time, Jones will be ready to go.

“I try to [make] the most of the opportunities that I have and today it just showed a lot,” he said. “One of our star receivers went down and you can’t have no dropoffs when someone goes down, so I just stepped up and did what I was supposed to do.”

Senior quarterback Alex Ross, meanwhile, has been touting the strength and depth of his receiving corps all season and had commented earlier in the week about Jones’ growing role in the offense.

“I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I feel like we’ve got one of the best receiving corps in the nation,” Ross said. “And that’s not just the starters. That’s the backups that we can throw in there.”

Abercrombie does it again

Speaking of players making the most of their chances, sophomore running back Osharmar Abercrombie continues to excell when on the field.

On Saturday night, Abercrombie picked up a quick 49 yards in just seven carries, including a late 22-yard touchdown scamper that sealed the win for the Chants.

For the season, Abercrombie is averaging a team-high 7.9 yards per carry while rushing for 174 yards and three touchdowns in 22 attempts.

No complaints on pass interference

It ended up not mattering after sophomore Marcus Williamson blocked Bryant’s 33-yard field goal attempt midway through the fourth quarter, but the Chants were flagged for a questionable pass interference penalty earlier on that drive that could have proved costly.

On third-and-9 from the Chants’ 44, Bryant’s Dalton Easton threw deep down the left sideline and if there was pass intereference on redshirt-freshman Anthony Chesley it wasn’t obvious.

Nonetheless, the penalty extended the Bulldogs’ drive at the 29 with Coastal Carolina protecting a seven-point lead before the defense clamped down again.

After the game, Moglia said he didn’t have a good look at the play from the opposite sideline.

“We don’t get a great view. I’m probably 70 yards away,” he said. “I can make believe I know what the call was, but I didn’t know what the call was. I assume the officials made the right call, but I didn’t see it. ... Whatever happened happened.”

Ishibashi fills in for Rabon

Freshman punter Evan Rabon was a surprise scratch Saturday night as sophomore Masamitsu Ishibashi filled in there in addition to his role on kickoffs.

“As it turned out, Evan had fallen off a bike and his head was bothering him and we weren’t sure until the end of the week exactly what was going to happen there,” Moglia said. “So when we ended up making a final decision to go with Masa, I thought he did an outstanding job tonight.”

Indeed, Ishibashi filled it just fine, averaging 40 yards on three punts with a long of 49.

Respect for Brown

Opponents are catching on to junior Devin Brown’s abilities as a kick returner.

Bryant made sure Brown – who has two kickoff returns for touchdown already this season – didn’t get any greaet opportunities in the return game and he finished with just one return for 10 yards.

Moglia wasn’t surprised.

“It was a surprise last week when Western Illinois kept kicking to him. That was a surprise,” Moglia quipped. “When we spend time on our kickoff return during the week we kick a couple balls deep, but 75 percent of our kickoff return practice is not to Devin deep. It’s to everybody else, so we know when to field the ball, when not to field the ball and how to set up our blocks.

“When Devin gets a chance to return, he’s got an opportunity to take it all the way. But when they kick it to somebody else, most of the time we should be able to get pretty good field position on the 35-yard line. ... It’s a compliment to Devin that they’re doing this. It’s fine with us.”

This story was originally published September 27, 2015 at 3:02 PM with the headline "CCU Football Notebook: Jones continues breakout season."