CCU Football Notebook: Chants kicking into high gear in 2016

One of the oldest football adages states that to be successful, you have to be strong in all three phases of the game: offense, defense and the kicking game.

Coastal Carolina should have the kicking game covered this season.

The Chanticleers return starters at each of the integral positions of their kicking game, as senior kicker Ryan Granger of North Charleston, sophomore punter Evan Rabon of Florence, sophomore long snapper Connor Kubala of Evans, Ga., and junior holder Tyler Keane of Myrtle Beach are all back from 2015.

“It’s always better when you have a familiarity and rapport with the guys you’re working with, and obviously rhythm has a lot to do with kicking and punting, so the more you can work together the better that goes,” said Curt Baldus, CCU’s fourth-year specialist coach who oversees kickers. “What we try to do on punts and field goals is remove all the elements, and obviously the snap and the hold are two of three elements of the kick so we try to make those exactly the same every time, and having the same guys makes that happen.”

In addition, the Chants also return junior kickoff specialist Masamitsu Ishibashi of Goose Creek and senior kick returner Devin Brown of Charleston, a third-team preseason STATS FCS All-America selection who averaged 28.6 yards per kickoff return in 2015 with two touchdowns.

Granger was a First Team All-Big South Conference selection last season, when he hit 16 of 20 field goal attempts and was 13 of 15 from inside 40 yards, 3 of 4 between 40 and 49 yards and 0-for-1 from 50 and beyond with a long of 47.

“I feel more comfortable, definitely, with the experience,” Granger said. “Guys trusted me last year, but they have seen what I can do so they definitely know what I can do on the field. … From 40 yards and in I always want to be 100 percent there, and I can definitely hit beyond 50 by a little bit.”

Rabon averaged 36.2 yards on 33 punts with a long of 52 and 13 punts inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.

Baldus said all of the returning players on special teams cemented their positions in spring and fall practices. “There’s always a competition and there always will be,” Baldus said. “The guy who has held the job, somebody has to come and take it from them. Nobody took the job from them.”

The Chants will rely heavily on its experienced special teams units this season. “I think we had an outstanding kicking game last year,” Chants head coach Joe Moglia said. “… We should have and we need to have a good year of special teams this year.”

Better, faster, stronger

CCU hired Anthony Decker as its new Director of Speed, Strength and Conditioning this summer, and his influence has been evident in just a few months.

Decker joined the Chants staff in June 2016 as a co-director with outgoing strength coach Antwan Floyd and was elevated to director in August. He will oversee the physical improvement for all 19 athletic programs and specifically work with the football program.

“I take my hat off to coach Decker and coach Floyd, who collaborated and put together this massive workout for us,” senior running back De’Angelo Henderson said. “You can look around at the guys and see everybody has gotten much stronger and much bigger. I feel great. I feel like I’m in the best shape I’ve been in the last five years. They did an awesome job this offseason.”

Decker, 56, has more than three decades of experience in strength training. He introduced workouts that are more specific to individual sports and positions within those sports.

“I think the biggest thing I’m trying to do is coordinate it geared towards what they’re being asked to do on the field,” Decker said. “They had a really, really good summer. They worked hard and embraced some of the change and the different approach. I’m more than pleased. They’ve embraced me and I’m happy and blessed to be here.”

Decker was previously the head strength coach at Delaware (1988-98), Virginia (1998-2002) and Temple (2006-11), and came to Coastal from Susquehanna University. He has helped dozens of players reach the NFL, including 17 Temple players and Virginia alums Heath Miller, D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Matt Schaub.

Decker co-founded Athletic Development and Performance Training (ADAPT) in New Jersey where he has served as a coach and consultant to several teams and individual athletes at the youth, college and professional levels.

“I’m appreciative of what he brings to the table,” Moglia said. “We brought him in because he’s accomplished things wherever he’s been.”

Building on Brooks

After four unsuccessful attempts to convince the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education to support CCU’s plan to expand Brooks Stadium to more than 20,000 seats, it had to be a relief to school officials when the S.C. Fiscal Accountability Authority approved the project Tuesday against the commission’s recommendation.

As Moglia said on Tuesday, without the stadium expansion “we wouldn’t be allowed in FBS, ultimately.”

CCU officials believe the school’s history of growing at a sustainable pace helped convince lawmakers the plan would be duly supported financially.

“I think our school is very fiscally responsible, we’ve had a great growth record over the span of the last several years, and we operate with a surplus, you know,” Moglia said. “There are great reasons for this. I think sometimes as a leader in government and the public sector you worry sometimes about abuse of funds, but that’s never happened at Coastal Carolina and that’s not going to happen going forward. So I was pretty confident it would eventually work out.”

Moglia said the university was on its own financially. Asked if he was willing to contribute if the state government didn’t approve the expansion plan, the chairman of TD Ameritrade said, “No, I wasn’t going to kick in. Nobody I think would have asked me to kick in. … I’ve kicked in enough.”

This story was originally published August 25, 2016 at 2:49 PM with the headline "CCU Football Notebook: Chants kicking into high gear in 2016."