CCU football program finds added selling point in Super Bowl connection

As the Coastal Carolina football program wraps up its 2016 recruiting class and awaits the formal National Letters of Intent to roll in Wednesday, it has benefited from some terrific timing with two former Chanticleer standouts front and center in the buildup to Super Bowl 50.

Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman and fullback Mike Tolbert were recruited by and played under former Chants head coach David Bennett, but as part of the program’s legacy they have become huge selling points for the current coaching staff in its pitch to prospective players.

“We use that like crazy,” Coastal Carolina recruiting coordinator Cory Bailey said. “… The more they do and the higher they climb, the NFL stuff is even better. We’ll do something probably a couple days before the Super Bowl, blast out something [on social media]. It’s awesome. It’s huge because they’re both recognizable names.”

In all, Coastal Carolina has had five players drafted into the NFL and four others make regular-season rosters as undrafted free agents. The program's representation in the league has grown in recent years with running back Lorenzo Taliaferro (fourth draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens in 2014), wide receiver Matt Hazel (sixth-round pick of the Miami Dolphins in 2014) and cornerback Denzel Rice (undrafted free agent who signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015).

Additionally, former linebacker Quinn Backus spent the end of the last Canadian Football League season working out with the Ottawa RedBlacks.

“We sell the heck out of that big time,” Bailey said Friday of that pro presence. “I’m working on a junior college linebacker right now that has us, Washington State, might have Cal. If he called right now, I’d have to take the call. …

“In my opinion now, if we’re doing the right thing with recruiting, we should be recruiting guys that you can kind of project to potentially be NFL guys. I think those are the kind of guys we should really recruit from a size standpoint, a speed standpoint. If they don’t want to become NFL guys, then they’re probably not as committed and serious about it as you want them to be.”

Players with NFL aspirations want to believe that a school can get help them toward that dream, and Coastal Carolina is developing a track record that started back with former quarterback Tyler Thigpen and safety Quinton Teal in 2007 and followed the next year with Tolbert and wide receiver Jerome Simpson.

But having Tolbert, one of those undrafted free agent success stories, and Norman – both Pro Bowl selections this year – splashed in front of the national media this week is a different kind of platform to take advantage of for the program.

“I couldn’t be prouder that Coastal Carolina has two guys that are starting in the Super Bowl, which is more than South Carolina has, more than Nebraska has, more than Florida has, more than Notre Dame has, it’s more than Penn State has, it’s more than Arizona has, it’s more than Arizona State has. And the list goes on,” Chants head coach Joe Moglia said. “I couldn’t be prouder of that. We also have those two guys in the Pro Bowl – more than … fill in the blanks.”

The football coaches aren’t the only ones feeling the prestige of having a pair of primary connections to football’s biggest event.

“It just reflects positively on the university as a whole,” Coastal Carolina President David DeCenzo said. “I actually got an email from some alumns that are coming out to the game and are just proud that our university is going to be represented by two starters in the Super Bowl. Everybody’s just excited to see two of our former players actually playing in the big show.”

Tolbert said he and Norman posed for a photo at Super Bowl 50’s Opening Night media session Monday to commemorate the moment.

“It was kind of like, ‘Man, we came a long way – him from Greenwood, me from Douglasville, Ga. We came a long way,” Tolbert said Tuesday during a Super Bowl media session in San Jose, Calif.

As far as they continue to go, though, they are still resonating on Coastal Carolina’s campus … and perhaps in some subtle way in the Chants’ latest recruiting class that will be unveiled Wednesday.

This story was originally published February 2, 2016 at 10:01 PM with the headline "CCU football program finds added selling point in Super Bowl connection."