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Opposing view: Kansas vs. Coastal Carolina

To get a closer look at Coastal Carolina we caught up with Al Blondin, who covers the beat for the Myrtle Beach Times.

How has Coastal Carolina handled the Covid-19 situation in fall camp?

The university is not separating cases specifically among athletes or by sports, it is only releasing a weekly count and cumulative cases on campus among students and staff.

There were only three positive coronavirus cases among students for the week of Aug. 20-26 on the entire CCU campus despite a few thousand students having already moved into their student housing, and none among school staff, according to the university.

Small numbers like that will allow the Chants to play their games this season, as long as their opponents aren’t forced to forfeit or attempt to postpone games because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

“For what they’ve had to try to go through and to try to change habits, I’m proud of what they’ve done,” Chadwell said of his players. “Something could change tomorrow, I’m realistic on that. But they’re doing everything we’re asking them to, to try to mitigate and avoid putting them in situations and circumstances that could cause and outbreak.”

They will be without four players who would have played significant minutes though not necessarily starters. They still have to test Friday.


Fred Payton missed key time during fall camp. Is he still in line to be the starter?

Payton has established himself as the front-runner for the starting quarterback job this off-season after leading the team in 2019 with 119 completions, 187 attempts, 1,421 passing yards, 12 passing TDs, seven interceptions and 1,602 total yards of offense.

He missed more than a week of practice because of a sore Achilles tendon, which has given fellow junior Bryce Carpenter of Sarasota, Florida., -- who played in 11 games in 2019 and started the final six in part because Payton was dealing with injuries -- and redshirt freshmen Grayson McCall of Indian Trail, N.C., time to work with the starting offense.

Chadwell said he has selected a starting quarterback but he will not tell the media just yet to "play a little cat and mouse" with Kansas. I suspect it is Fred Payton.

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Marable had a big game against the Jayhawks last year
Marable had a big game against the Jayhawks last year

Give a big picture take on the offense. Who are the key players to watch?

Senior running back C.J. Marable does everything in Coastal's spread option offense. He was selected Preseason Second Team All-Sun Belt after leading the team last year with 1,104 yards and 11 touchdowns on 204 carries (5.3 yards per carry), and finishing second to receiver Jaivon Heiligh in receptions with 38 for 295 yards and three scores.

Heiligh returns for his junior season after catching 46 passes for 497 yards and three TDs. Junior tight end Isaiah Likely (6-4, 245) may be CCU's best player on offense, and was named Preseason second team all-conference after catching 32 passes for 431 yards and 5 TDs last year. He should have a chance to lead the team in receptions this season and is a beast in the red zone. The offensive line has a fair amount of experience with returning starters senior guard Jack Franklin (6-4, 350), senior tackle Steven Bedosky (6-2, 280) and senior c/g Trey Carter (6-1, 300), the leader of the unit.

The QB info is answered in No. 4. With CCU's top producers returning in all positions on offense, the Chants figure to be better in 2020 than they were in 2019. This should be their best offense since they moved up to FBS and joined the Sun Belt four years ago.


What is your take on the defense going into the first game?

Coastal is excited about its defense, particularly its front seven. They have two first-team all-Sun Belt selections as edge rushers in Tarron Jackson and Jeffrey Gunter. Jackson may be a candidate for the conference's defensive player of the year after setting school records with 10 sacks last season, 72 yards lost from those sacks and 13 quarterback hurries.

Gunter was named first team in 2018 after recording 49 tackles, including 14 for loss and five sacks, before he transferred to N.C. State but he returned to CCU after just one season and was cleared to play by the NCAA. Senior defensive lineman C.J. Brewer and senior middle linebacker Teddy Gallagher were both named preseason second-team all-conference, and senior middle linebacker Silas Kelly can challenge Jackson as the best player on the defense and is returning from a torn ACL in the second game of last season.

A defensive backfield that was suspect last season has a number of newcomers and inexperience, so the front seven may have to carry the defense. All in all, Coastal believes this is its best ever defense.

How do you see this match-up between KU and Coastal?

Coastal surprised Kansas last year, and they are getting a lot of respect from odds-makers with the line opening at 3.5 and now sitting at 6.5. Coastal expects to be better this season on both sides of the ball, but it is still an average to below average team in the Sun Belt Conference, as evidenced by the Chants receiving the fewest points in a preseason coaches poll. With revenge as a motivating factor, I would expect Kansas to win by a touchdown or more in another fairly low-scoring game.

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