CONWAY | The fifth Myrtle Beach Bowl will mark Coastal Carolina鈥檚 unveiling of quarterback Tad Hudson.
With its top two quarterbacks in the NCAA Transfer Portal in Ethan Vasko and Noah Kim, Hudson will have the opportunity to showcase his skills for the first time as a college football player.
Hudson (6'3", 225) is a redshirt freshman transfer from North Carolina. He was a four-star prospect who was rated by ESPN among the top 150 players in the country in the class of 2023, the No. 10 pocket passer and No. 3 player in N.C. after setting school career records at Hough High in Huntersville with 7,325 yards passing and 76 passing TDs. He joined CCU in late April.
鈥淗e鈥檚 been waiting in the shadows,鈥 CCU head coach Tim Beck said. 鈥. . . He鈥檚 waited for an opportunity to go out there and show what he can do. He鈥檚 super excited and fired up.
鈥淲e鈥檝e just got to make sure the plan is simple and let him go out there and play fast and have an opportunity to execute.鈥
Redshirt Freshman quarterback Tad Hudson throws the ball at a practice on Tuesday, July 30, 2024.
The only other QB on Coastal鈥檚 roster is true freshman Alex Walker from Concord, N.C., so it should be Hudson鈥檚 show against the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) at 11 a.m. Dec. 23 at Brooks Stadium in Conway.
After traveling 4,800 miles last year to play in the Hawai鈥檌 Bowl, the Chants (6-6) are staying home to make their first appearance in the Myrtle Beach Bowl in their home stadium, though they have been deemed the visitors for the game.
鈥淚 think there could have been a public perception of, 鈥楢hh man, we鈥檙e staying home, we鈥檙e not traveling,鈥 鈥 Beck said. 鈥淚 think they鈥檙e actually excited about having the opportunity to play one more time at home. And again a lot of players who haven鈥檛 been playing a lot of significant snaps will get opportunities, so this will be their first time actually doing it.鈥
Coastal will be playing without several of its top contributors this season in addition to the two QBs, particularly on defense, as 31 CCU players have entered the portal, according to , and Beck said none of them will play.
Both of CCU鈥檚 2024 First Team All-Sun Belt Conference selections, redshirt sophomore outside linebacker Clev Lubin and junior cornerback Matthew McDoom, are in the portal, as are rotating defensive lineman Naejaun Barber and Will Whitson, who was CCU鈥檚 best defensive lineman before opting to redshirt after playing in four games.
鈥淒epth obviously is going to be a factor,鈥 Beck said. 鈥淵our special teams guys now get elevated to more playing time, some of the backups on special teams are going to be elevated to being starters on special teams. But you鈥檙e going to see that on a lot of football teams in these bowl games.鈥
Senior inside linebacker Shane Bruce is expected to return from injury for the bowl, while fellow inside linebacker Wyatt Gedeon is not available due to injury, Beck said.
鈥淭here was a lot of excitement at practice because there are a lot of guys who haven鈥檛 played a lot that know they鈥檙e going to. So they鈥檙e excited for that,鈥 Beck said.
Aside from the QB position, Coastal will be thin in the backfield and has lost one of its key offensive linemen.
No starting offensive linemen have reportedly entered the portal, but graduate tackle Zovon Lindsay has declared for the NFL Draft and will not be playing, according to Beck.
The Chants expect to have senior Braydon Bennett but little else at running back.
Bennett has 727 rushing yards, 11 rushing touchdowns and a 6.5-yard per-carry average, along with 21 receptions for 160 yard and two TDs.
Redshirt junior Matt Pack Jr., who has carried the ball in just one game this season, is the only other player listed as a running back on the CCU roster who is available Monday.
Christian Washington, a redshirt sophomore transfer from New Mexico who has rushed for 535 yards and five TDs with a 5.3-yard average, is one of four CCU running backs listed in the portal, which includes redshirt junior Mississippi State transfer Simeon Price. Running back Max Balthazar was lost to a season-ending injury.
"We'll use a variety of different guys in case of an emergency," Beck said. "We have an emergency plan if we need to."
None of CCU鈥檚 top five wide receivers in terms of catches and yards are reportedly in the portal 鈥 Jameson Tucker, Cameron Wright, Senika McKie, Bryson Graves and Tray Taylor. Tucker leads the team with six receiving touchdowns, while tight end Cane Berrong has contributed 11 catches for 140 yards.
鈥淲e have guys that have played games and helped us win at those positions,鈥 Beck said. 鈥淭he biggest question will be obviously Tad going out there and doing his thing.鈥
Tight end Kendall Karr is in the portal. Though he was a preseason All-Sun Belt selection, he has just 13 catches for 234 yards and a touchdown this season.
With the portal period opening before bowl games are played, some teams are a shell of themselves in their bowl because they are losing so many players to the portal. Sun Belt Conference champion Marshall withdrew from its bowl game because it didn't have enough players remaining on its roster to "safely" play in the game.
鈥淚 think the bowl games are losing their luster is what鈥檚 happening,鈥 Beck said, 鈥渆xcept for teams that are competing for the championship because those guys still have a chance to compete for a championship so they鈥檒l stay.鈥
According to reports and player social media accounts, McDoom is headed to Cincinnati and Washington is going to San Diego State.
Lubin has reportedly been offered by numerous Power Four programs, and posted Friday on his X (formerly Twitter) account a picture of himself in Auburn, Minnesota and Louisville garb with the question 鈥淲here鈥檚 Home?鈥
During it's bowl preparation, CCU has brought in dozens of potential portal signees to the campus over the past couple weeks.
"We're excited about the people we're out recruiting and have had the opportunity to bring in," Beck said. "The recruiting battles are recruiting battles, you're going to continually be battling schools all the way up to when these individuals sign or they enroll because they have a lot of options right now. We're plugging away as a staff."
Beck and his staff are selling the attributes of CCU and the program to the recruits.
"No. 1, we have a great location. We sell that," Beck said. "No. 2, a great tradition that we're establishing and continue to build in terms of a winning program and winning football. We're a program on the rise. You've got [new athletics director] Chance Miller and the things he's put together, president [Michael T.] Benson and the things he's put together. You can see the development in the facilities, you can see the change in the game-day atmosphere, the crowds. There's a lot of excitement right now to be here.
"And they have an opportunity to come in and play. When you've got 30 guys in the portal there's open windows all over the place."
Scouting the Roadrunners
Like Coastal, UTSA is making its fifth straight bowl appearance. It鈥檚 the program鈥檚 sixth overall in its 14th season as a program.
UTSA has a similar history to CCU鈥檚 over the past few years under fifth-year coach Jeff Traylor, who like Beck is a former high school coach in Texas.
While CCU had its breakout seasons in 2020-21, the Roadrunners spent weeks being ranked in the top 25 in both the AP Poll and College Football Playoff Rankings in 2021 and 2022. They went a combined 32-9 in the three seasons from 2021-23.
They took a step back this season, going 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the American Athletic Conference, and qualified for a bowl by winning three of their final four games, including the first win over a ranked FBS opponent in school history with a 44-36 victory over No. 25 Memphis on Nov. 2.
The only loss in the past four games was 29-24 at a ranked Army team.
鈥淭here was a time this season there was no way in heck anybody thought we were going to do this,鈥 Traylor said. 鈥淚鈥檓 really excited my kids stayed the course and we鈥檙e playing really good football right now. . . . We're playing as good as we have the last eight weeks and we're really excited about our opportunity.鈥
Asked about his team's resurgence after a 2-4 start to make a bowl game, Traylor said the keys were the restructuring and development of the offensive line after losing three starting linemen to injury, and the team's maturation.
"We just stopped being ignorant and doing some things that will get you beat," he said.听"We started playing a lot more intelligent football and we weren't so emotional, we just played within ourselves."
UTSA is 6-0 at home and 0-6 on the road this season. "We've got some stuff to accomplish or we're not going to be called the Roadrunners anymore, we'll be called the Homerunners," Traylor quipped.
Coastal Carolina coach Tim Beck (left) and UTSA coach Jeff Traylor pose with the Myrtle Beach Bowl trophy following a press conference Thursday at Black Drum Brewing. Photo by Alan Blondin
CCU is catching a break by not having to account for linebacker Jimmori Robinson, the AAC Defensive Player of the Year who has declared for the NFL Draft and won't play, according to the San Antonio Express 糖心vlog官方入口.
The fifth-year senior led the conference with 10.5 sacks and 17.0 tackles for loss, which are ninth and sixth in FBS, respectively. He also has eight quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and two pass break-ups.
His snaps will likely be shared by redshirt sophomore Camron Cooper and redshirt freshman Vic Shaw, who both saw significant playing time this season as UTSA rotates a number of players on defense, and have combined for 27 tackles, including five for loss.
Cornerback Zah Frazier is UTSA's other First Team All-AAC selection with six interceptions, nine passes defended and a forced fumble, and linebacker Martavius French is a Second Team selection with a team-high 77 tackles including 14 for loss and four quarterback hurries.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e good defensively,鈥 Beck said. 鈥淚 think they鈥檙e really good up front.鈥
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Owen McCown, who transferred from Colorado, has completed 62 percent of his passes for 3,170 yards, which was 15th in the country through conference championship games, with 24 TDs and nine interceptions. He also has 82 carries for 303 yards and two TDs in his first year as a starter.
鈥淗e's just continued to get better as the season has gone on," Traylor said of McCown.
McCown spreads the ball around, as seven Roadrunners have at least 20 catches and 200 yards.
Senior running back Robert Henry Jr. (5鈥9鈥, 205) leads the team with 706 yards rushing and averages 5.3 yards per carry, and he and redshirt freshman Brandon High Jr. each have a team-high seven rushing TDs.
UTSA is 11th in the country in passing offense with 286 yards per game and 70th in rushing offense with 160, while CCU allows 225 passing and 180 rushing to rank 81st and 104th in the country, respectively.
Coastal is 46th in rushing offense with 179 yards per game and 92nd passing with 204 per game, while UTSA is susceptible to the pass, allowing 274 yards per game to rank 125th nationally, while allowing just 110 yards rushing per game to rank 19th.
鈥淛eff鈥檚 had a lot of success there and it will be a good football team,鈥 Beck said.
While CCU has 31 players in the portal, according to , including many of its top players, UTSA has reportedly just eight, and most were not significant contributors during the season.
Perhaps the most significant player in the portal is edge rusher Ronald Triplette, who has 23 tackles, five tackles for loss, four sacks and two forced fumbles this season despite not starting a game, and has reportedly been offered by at least a pair of ACC schools.
Running back Rocko Griffin left the team after playing in four games and rushing for 44 yards on 17 carries and is in the portal.
Traylor said some players in the portal are expected to be dressed and available to play Monday.
"Some will be in the two-deep [depth chart] in the game . . . because they wanted to [play] and they were handling it right," Traylor said. "The kids didn't mess this up, man, the adults did. We're the ones that put them in a bad place. These kids want to be here with their teammates and play in the ballgame, and they also want to go play [more minutes at another school]."
While potentially not impacted much by the portal, UTSA has at least 12 players out for the season due to injury, including multiple-year starters such as offensive linemen Makai Hart, Luke Lapeze and Venly Tatafu, receiver De'Corian Clark, tight end Oscar Cardenas, defensive lineman Joe Evans,听and safety Ken Robinson. Cardenas was named Second Team All-AAC despite his injury.
The Roadrunners are facing a current member of the Sun Belt Conference for the fourth time in its past five bowl games.
They defeated Marshal 35-17 last December in the Scooter鈥檚 Coffee Frisco Bowl in Texas for the program鈥檚 first bowl victory.
In a meeting of ranked teams in the 2022 Cure Bowl in Orlando, No. 23 Troy scored the game鈥檚 final 18 points for an 18-12 win over No. 22 UTSA.
To finish Traylor鈥檚 first season at UTSA in the 2020 First Responder Bowl in Dallas, the Roadrunners rallied from a 24-7 deficit to tie the game but lost 31-24 to No. 16 Louisiana, which shared the Sun Belt title with the Chants that season.
"It's exciting. It's bowl season," Traylor said. "[Beck] is dealing with his problems and we're dealing with our problems, and whoever handles those problems the best will get to celebrate the Myrtle Beach championship, and who doesn't handle it that well will be sad all offseason."
2024 Myrtle Beach Bowl
Who: Coastal Carolina (6-6, 3-5 Sun Belt) vs听UTSA (6-6, 4-4 American Athletic Conference)
When: 11 a.m. on Dec. 23
Where: Brooks Stadium, Conway, SC
TV: ESPN
Radio: WRNN FM 99.5 and
Line: UTSA -10
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