CCU Football Notebook: Billings shines in first start

Considering rookie safety Michael Billings had played just one defensive snap in the previous game, it was hard to really know what to expect Saturday as the true freshman from Georgetown made his first career start for Coastal Carolina.

Which only makes his performance all the more impressive.

Billings helped key the No. 8-ranked Chanticleers to a 46-0 shutout win over Gardner-Webb, contributing five tackles, a sack and a forced fumble in a breakout performance.

“It’s just a blessing. I’m just so amazed right now. Just do your job and things happen. That’s all,” Billings said.

The coaching staff followed through on plans to shake up the defense, inserting both Billings and junior Austin Murillo as first-time starters at safety in place of senior Kelvin Deveaux and sophomore Kerron Johnson.

Murillo, an offseason newcomer from College of the Canyons, was a player who impressed during spring practice before missing fall camp and the start of the season with mono. He’s been coming on of late, though.

He and Billings both started rotating in with the first-team defense in practice this past week and had the sense that they were in line for an expanded role for the Chants (8-1, 3-1 Big South).

“I don’t make a big deal out of who starts. I know the guys do and it’s a big deal, but sometimes you’ve just got to do some different things and try some people in different spots,” Chants defensive coordinator Clayton Carlin said. “So we just thought, ‘Let’s give Michael a shot, let’s give Austin a shot. … Let’s see what they can do.’ ”

Murillo assisted on two tackles while Billings delivered a couple of memorable plays in the win.

On Gardner-Webb’s second possession of the second half, he notched a 14-yard sack after the Runnin’ Bulldogs had reached midfield. They’d have to punt, and on their next series, Billings forced a fumble from quarterback Tyrell Maxwell that the Chants recovered at the Gardner-Webb 17 to set up a short touchdown drive.

“One, he showed mentally he’s on top of things. He studied a lot this week. Two, he made some big hits and he’s a good tackler in space,” Carlin said. “It’s not that easy for a true freshman, even though we’re on week nine, week 10, to come in and do that. I think he handled the situation very well.”

After putting up prolific numbers as a star running back and two-way defensive player at Georgetown High School, Billings was recruited by the Chants as a safety. He says he didn’t think he’d end up playing college football this close to home, but in the end, Coastal Carolina just felt right.

“At first I wanted to go far from home, but they showed me so much love with Coach Carlin calling me every day, Coach [Curt] Baldus calling me every day, talking to me, just having regular conversations,” Billings said. “They showed me the most love in the process. I felt home here.”

And with more performances like the one he had Saturday, Billings may have found his home on the defense early in his young collegiate career.

“[I just have to] stay humble and trust the preparation,” he said. “… I have all the basic calls down, but there’s always room for improvement to make your reads faster, coming down faster. There’s always room for improvement so that’s what I’m trying to elevate every time. Every day get better.”

More on the defense

The shutout was the first in program history against a Big South opponent and marked the first time that Coastal Carolina has ever posted two shutouts in the same season.

For that matter, half of the program’s four shutouts have now come this season as the Chants also had a 55-0 win over Alabama A&M earlier this fall.

It was quite a statement for a defense that had been much maligned of late, especially after a rough first half last weekend led to a loss at Charleston Southern.

“You’re just so happy for the guys, and as I said all along they’re a resilient bunch of guys,” Carlin said. “Certainly there was disappointment and hurt based on last week, but I’m not surprised they bounced back, I’m not surprised by what they did tonight. This is a resilient bunch of guys, so I’m super happy for them. I’ve always been proud of them and just as proud tonight.”

The changes at safety were the major shake-up personnel-wise, but the Chants also got a pair of reserve linebackers in sophomore Shane Johnson and senior Rayshaud Shields significant playing time while working on more of a balance at that position.

Overall, the Chants now rank 17th in the FCS in scoring defense, giving up an average of 18.1 points per game.

The question is, can they sustain the improvements they showed Saturday?

“I thought we could be doing this all along,” senior defensive end Calvin Hollenhorst said. “It’s just nice to get everything clicking and working, all the fits right and just have everything [come] together.”

Weick makes impact

Senior tight end Craig Weick had not caught more than two passes in any game all season before hauling in four receptions for 63 yards and a touchdown Saturday.

The highlight was a 39-yard touchdown grab in the first quarter that was intended for junior Devin Brown, but was deflected back by either Brown or the Gardner-Webb defender near the goal line and right into Weick’s hands as he finished the scoring connection.

“It just happened to just fall in my hands,” Weick said. “After the play I got to the sideline and Devin looked at me and he goes, ‘You know I tipped that to you on purpose, right?’ I was like, ‘Hey, I don’t care, whatever,’ because that was my first touchdown this year so I was just ecstatic.”

Hop over 1,000

Junior running back De’Angelo “Hop” Henderson extended his FCS record streak to 23 straight games with a touchdown. He also eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards for the second straight season.

He needed only 11 carries to total 114 yards and two touchdowns Saturday, pushing his 2015 rushing total to 1,053 yards.

Coastal Carolina has only had four 1,000-yard rushing seasons in program history, and Henderson (1,534 yards in 2014) now accounts for half of them.

Rankings

With its 46-0 win over Gardner-Webb and a lot of shake-up elsewhere in the top-10, Coastal Carolina should improve upon its No. 8 national FCS ranking this week.

Incredibly, six of the top-10 ranked teams in the FCS Coaches Poll and STATS FCS media poll lost this week: No. 2/2 Illinois State lost 25-20 to No. 11/11 South Dakota State; No. 3/3 Chattanooga lost 17-14 to unranked Mercer; No. 4/4 Eastern Washington lost 52-30 to unranked Northern Arizona; No. 7/5 Richmond lost 30-25 to unranked New Hampshire; No. 9/7 Sam Houston State lost 27-10 to No. 5/9 McNeese State; and No. 9/10 Portland State lost 35-32 to unranked Northern Colorado.

Coastal Carolina has been ranked within the top-25 in 41 consecutive polls and within the top-10 in 34 of the last 35 polls. The Chants have been a top-5 team 26 weeks under Moglia, accounting for 48 percent of his tenure.

Etc.

Coastal Carolina is the only Big South team to average more than 200 rushing yards and 200 passing yards per game in the same season, doing so each of the last two seasons. And the Chants are on pace to make it three years in a row as they are now averaging 202.4 rushing yards and 242.3 passing yards per game. ...

The Chants totaled 226 rushing yards Saturday and are now 30-1 in the Moglia era when reaching 200 rushing yards. ...

Senior slot receiver Tyrell Blanks (concussion) and senior wide receiver John Israel (knee) missed their second straight games Saturday.

This story was originally published November 8, 2015 at 4:53 PM with the headline "CCU Football Notebook: Billings shines in first start."