Charleston Southern coach Jamey Chadwell, whose team plays at Alabama on Saturday, wants to keep his team healthy for the FCS playoffs.
With the FCS playoffs looming, Charleston Southern head football coach Jamey Chadwell doesn’t plan to take any chances with his players in Saturday’s clash at Alabama.
The Buccaneers, 9-1 and ranked eighth in the latest FCS polls, will learn their playoff fate on Sunday morning when the brackets are announced at 11 a.m. CSU is expected to earn a national top eight seed and first-round bye.
Chadwell would like to have his team healthy when CSU begins its first-ever playoff run. So playing it smart with his players in a game they most likely will lose is first and foremost on the coach’s mind.
“We met with our team and they know the deal,” said Chadwell, who guided the Buccaneers to an undefeated record against FCS teams this season. “We’re pretty good, but they are really good. We’re realistic about this game. We’re going to go there and compete and play to win the game, but when it gets to the point where we know we can’t win, we will make decisions in terms of what we need to do to keep our players healthy for the long run. Our team is mature enough to understand that.”
Alabama (9-1) is ranked second in the College Football Playoff rankings and No. 3 in the AP poll.
“We’re going to play hard and we expect our team to play hard, but we’re going to be smart as well. We’ve been smart during the week of practice also. We could practice between now and next Thanksgiving and it probably wouldn’t matter. The big thing is coming out of this game healthy.”
Chadwell feels it is important that he and his coaching staff do everything possible to give the Buccaneers a chance to compete in Saturday’s game. He says he wants his players to be excited for the opportunity to play against one of the most storied college football programs in the country.
“We’ll be pumped to be a part of this game,” Chadwell said. “For the guys on our team, growing up in this era, Alabama is the top program in college football. It’s a huge deal for these kids. I’m not sure how long that excitement will last. It might wear off as soon as they smack us in the mouth.”
The quarterback position is one obvious concern for Chadwell. CSU senior Austin Brown is the starter and has played his best football over the last six weeks, including throwing four touchdown passes in Saturday’s 31-24 win over Liberty.
Brown’s backups are sophomore Kyle Copeland and redshirt junior Danny Croghan, both of whom have battled injuries this season. In last year’s season finale at Georgia, Brown suffered a broken collar bone. CSU did not make the FCS playoffs last season but had they been selected, Brown would have missed the postseason.
“Certainly we have to be smart about what we’re running if they’re out there head-hunting,” Chadwell said. “We can’t allow him to take chances on the option. We have to get the ball out of his hands. Once it is obvious that we’re not going to win the game, we have to be smart with who plays and how much they play. It’s not like we have a ton of depth to begin with. Of the 63 scholarship guys we have, 18 are redshirting this year. It’s not like we’re traveling 75 guys that can play in the game.”
Personnel issues aside, Chadwell said the obvious reason the Bucs are playing Alabama and will play at Florida State next season is money. Charleston Southern, which will receive $500,000 from Alabama, has played games at Florida, Miami, Florida State, Georgia and Vanderbilt in recent years. The guarantee money provides a huge boost to the athletic budget and helped CSU put in a new turf football field and lights at the stadium.
“We know why we play this game and that’s OK,” Chadwell said. “It’s what we have to do and it doesn’t bother me. I wish we could change the date of the game but we can’t now. It’s here and we are going to play it.”
Charleston Southern will be ‘smart’ with its players against Alabama