Coastal's Bothwell and Granger Honored by Big South
10/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
CONWAY - Coastal Carolina junior Jabarai Bothwell was named the Big South Defensive Player of the Week while, for the second time in as many games, Ryan Granger was selected the Big South Special Teams Player of the Week.
This is Coastal's first Defensive Player of the Week honor while a Chanticleer specialist has been the a league's Special Team Player of the Week in five of CCU's seven games (Ryan Granger twice, Devin Brown and Evan Rabon).
The top-ranked Chanticleers are coming off a 23-20 win at Monmouth to improve to 7-0, becoming the first Big South program to start a season with at least seven wins in three consecutive seasons (9-0 start in 2013 and 11-0 start in 2014).
Bothwell tallied nine tackles, including a season-high six solo stops, plus a game-high three tackles-for-loss for seven yards at Monmouth. He recorded five of his tackles in the second half, including two behind the line, and was part of a Chanticleer defense that stopped three fourth down attempts in the final 30 minutes.
Bothwell, who had a career-high 11 tackles in his last game (versus Presbyterian College), has a team-best 20 stops in his last two games, including 12 solo stops, with 4.0 tackles for loss. Inhis first five games of 2015, Bothwell only had 15 tackles and one TFL. Last season, Bothwell had 27 tackles in 14 games. In seven games this season, he ranks third on the team ââ'¬" behind linebackers Alex Scearce and Devon Brant ââ'¬" with 35 tackles while ranking second on the team with 5.0 tackles for loss.
Granger, who was named both national and conference Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance versus Presbyterian, made a 30-yard, game-winning field goal as time expired for the three-point win. Overall, Granger was part of an 11-point day as he made 3-of-3 field goals, hitting from 30, 32 and 30 yards, as well as 2-of-2 on PATs. Granger gave CCU its first lead of the day at 3-0 in the first quarter, and his 32-yarder in the third quarter extended Coastal's lead to 20-13.
Granger ranks second in the NCAA FCS for field goals made per game (1.86), sixth in scoring 9.4 points per game and 13th in field goal percentage (.867). For his career, Granger has made 19-of-21 field goals and is a perfect 29-of-29 on PATs.
