Bothwell becoming a force for Chanticleers

Junior defensive tackle Jabarai Bothwell got his starting role on the Coastal Carolina defense in a most unusual way this season, taking over when returning senior starter Marcus Crowder abruptly told the coaches after the first game that he was done with football.

At the time, Bothwell said it was not the way he wanted to become starter – he would have preferred to earn the job.

But Bothwell has more than justified his place in the lineup in the nine games since that unexpected transition. More to the point, he might just be the Chanticleers’ most important defensive player.

He’s been named the team’s defensive MVP an incredible six times, as chosen after each game by the coaching staff, and has twice been named the Big South Defensive Player of the Week, earning that honor again after tallying a team-high nine tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss and a blocked PAT in No. 4-ranked Coastal Carolina’s 45-13 win Saturday over Kennesaw State.

“In terms of productivity, in terms of what he has been able to do on the field in games, he has delivered. He’s been our most valuable defensive player,” Chants head coach Joe Moglia said.

Overall, Bothwell is second on the team with 54 total tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss, and tied for second among all Big South defensive linemen in tackles.

“I’m not surprised,” Chants defensive coordinator Clayton Carlin said. “We saw something there. I’m not surprised, I’m not.”

No, it’s not like Bothwell’s breakout season came out of nowhere.

He was an FBS-level recruit while starting his collegiate career at Western Michigan, and played a good bit last year in his first season with the Chants. Even as a reserve, Bothwell was going to have a significant role this fall.

But still, the 5-foot-11, 290-pound junior from Ocala, Fla., is the first to admit he didn’t expect to have this kind of impact this fall.

“I didn’t see myself starting this season. I felt like next season would have been [what this season has become],” he said this week.

He’s been at his best of late, helping the Coastal Carolina defense undergo a significant turnaround the last two games. The Chants (9-1, 4-1 Big South) now head into their regular-season finale at rival Liberty (5-5, 2-3) on Thursday night looking to build momentum toward another FCS playoff run.

Since a forgettable first half against Charleston Southern that ultimately led to the Chants’ lone loss so far, the defense has been terrific while allowing just 19 points over the last 10 quarters.

Individually, meanwhile, Bothwell has been on a tear, totaling 40 tackles and five tackles for loss over the last five games.

Talking about that rejuvenated defense this week, he said there was no big speech or team meeting needed to refocus and turn things around.

“We didn’t have to do that. We’d seen what happened. The coaches didn’t want to rub it in too bad. We had to bounce back, but as a defense you see [what’s wrong], you’re out there for the plays,” he said. “It was a [feeling] that, ‘This is not us. This is not the defense we were coming out of camp. This is not the defense Coach Moglia said we are.’ We just knew we had to step it up.”

Bothwell has had something to prove in his own right since arriving in Conway.

He joined the Chants after spending two seasons at Western Michigan. He saw limited playing time in nine games as a redshirt-freshman in 2013 after the Broncos switched head coaches from Bill Cubit to P.J. Fleck, but Bothwell said he no longer felt like he belonged there.

“When I left, I felt like they didn’t want me there and I wanted to go to a place where I was wanted,” he said. “[CCU defensive line coach Cory] Bailey and Coach Carlin on my visit showed how much they wanted me.”

He says while he talked to a number of schools about transferring, Coastal Carolina was the only one he visited.

“I didn’t need to see much else after this,” he said.

The coaches, though, had to do their due diligence.

Carlin used to coach with current Western Michigan offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca way back in the early 1990s at Delaware Valley College, and he reached out to him with his questions about Bothwell.

“Kirk and I coached together way back when and so you talk to the appropriate people there and see what the situation is, why things didn’t work out there for whatever reason,” Carlin said. “First, you want to see if it’s a character flaw, and they said, ‘Nope, he’s a great kid, hard worker, it’s just not working out.’ So we were thrilled to have him.”

Especially this fall. The Chants certainly weren’t expecting Crowder to leave the program abruptly during a season with FCS national championship hopes, and that loss could have been a significant blow if not for Bothwell’s breakout campaign.

“I just wanted to make a difference on the team. That’s what motivates me, every week helping the team get a win,” he said. “... We lost a big chunk with Marcus gone. I wanted to step up for the guys around me.”

After rolling over Gardner-Webb and Kennesaw State the last two weeks by a combined 91-13 margin, the Chants are right where they want to be heading into the finale at Liberty, confident they can lock up a top-8 seed and first-round bye in the FCS playoffs with a win Thursday night.

If that happens and the team goes on a deep postseason run, part of the end-of-year reflection will be on the breaks of good fortune that are always part of such seasons.

One, no doubt, will be the emergence of Bothwell.

“He’s a very, very talented player. From last year to this year, I think he kind of sees how good he can really be and is trying to see the future a little bit,” Carlin said. “So he’s really spent a lot of time, more time this year probably studying the game and taking care of the details, studying more film. He’s just disruptive as heck in there.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 9:41 PM with the headline "Bothwell becoming a force for Chanticleers."