CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers will begin the 2023 season live on ESPN at UCLA on Saturday night Sept. 2, in Los Angeles, Calif. Kickoff is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET.
 
2023 Coastal Carolina football tickets are on sale now. Fans can purchase tickets online by visiting www.GoCCUsports.com/tickets or by calling the Chanticleer Athletics Ticket Office at 843-347-TIXX.
  • Tim Beck was named the fourth head football coach in Coastal Carolina history on Dec. 4, 2022.
 
• A veteran leader with 35 years of coaching experience, Beck brings with him 18 years of Power 5 experience to CCU, including spending the last 12 years as an offensive coordinator at Nebraska, Ohio State, Texas, and N.C. State.
 
• The offensive coordinator and quarterbacks' coach at N.C. State for the last three seasons (2020-22), Beck helped lead the Wolfpack to three consecutive eight-plus wins seasons, three-straight bowl appearances, and a combined record of 25-11.
 
• As a collegiate coach, he has helped guide teams to 17 postseason bowl games, including last season. Beck has also coached in a postseason bowl game in every year since 2007, including helping Ohio State compete in the College Football Playoff in 2016.
  • Coastal Carolina received three votes in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 Preseason Poll on Aug. 14.
 
• Coastal was ranked in the top 25 in both the Associated Press (AP) and USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Top 25 polls for 11 straight weeks in 2020 and 11 straight weeks in 2021.
 
• The Chants were one of just three Sun Belt Conference teams to earn a spot in the top 25 polls in 2022. Coastal was ranked in both top 25 polls at No. 23 for week 12 and 13 of last season.
  • CCU's Grayson McCall was named the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year for the third consecutive season and is coming off a historical three-straight Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year honors (2020, 2021, and 2022).
 
• On top of his preseason player of the year honor, McCall was joined on the Preseason All-Sun Belt first team by wide receivers Jared Brown and Sam Pinckney, as well as linebacker JT Killen.
 
• Earning a spot on the preseason All-Sun Belt second team were offensive lineman Will McDonald and return specialist Matthew McDoom.
  • The Coastal rushing attack will once again feature a run-by-committee attack with the return of experienced players CJ Beasley (R-Jr.), Braydon Bennett (R-Jr.), and Reese White (S-Sr.).
 
• CJ Beasley, who started the season as the No. 4 running back last season, took the ball and ran with it when injuries depleted the running backs group.
 
• Beasley led the team in rushing with 141 carries for 717 yards and five touchdowns. He averaged 5.1 yards per game and recorded two 100-yard games with a career-high 142 yards at Georgia State (Sept. 22, 2022) and 115 yards at ULM (Oct. 8, 2022).
 
• The fourth-year Chant also had 19 catches for 193 yards and a score in the passing game.
 
• In three seasons at CCU, Beasley has carried the ball 163 times for 808 yards and six scores in 25 games.
 
• Braydon Bennett played in just four games last season due to an injury in preseason fall camp.
 
• Over the last four games of the year, the speedster carried the ball 16 times for 83 yards and caught four passes for 86 yards.
 
• Over his three years at Coastal, Bennett has toted the ball 96 times for 766 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. He has also caught 28 passes for 381 yards and two scores.
 
• Reese White, the most experienced of the group, returns for his super-senior season in 2023.
 
• Last season, White rushed 99 times for 544 yards and five touchdowns over 10 games, missing three contests. He also caught eight passes for 42 yards and two touchdowns on the year.
 
• White has rushed for 1,704 yards in his career at CCU, with 21 touchdowns and an average of 5.8 yards per carry.
 
• Depth in the offensive backfield will come from redshirt sophomore Max Balthazar, who played in eight games in 2022, as well as true freshmen Ja'Vin Simpkins, Darren Lloyd, and Jahbari Kuykendall.
  • Returning on the outside for the Chants are a trio of all-conference wideouts in Sam Pinckney, Jared Brown, and Tyson Mobley.
 
• Named to the 2023 Biletnikoff Award preseason watch list, Sam Pinckney led the Chants with 71 receptions, 996 receiving yards, and an average of 76.6 yards per game in his first year as a Chant last season. He also had three receiving touchdowns.
 
• He also had at least one catch in all 13 games on the season and totaled 100-plus receiving yards versus Buffalo (Sept. 17, 2022), ULM (Oct. 8, 2022), Old Dominion (Oct. 15, 2022), and Southern Miss (Nov. 12, 2022).
 
• Along with his four 100-yard receiving games at Coastal Carolina last year, Pinckney also totaled five 100-yard games over his four years at Georgia State from 2018-21, giving him nine overall for his collegiate career.
 
• Jared Brown had a standout redshirt freshman season, in which he was named to the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) 2022 Freshman All-America Team and the 2022 College Football (CFN) News Freshman All-American second team.
 
• Tabbed the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year, Brown was second on the team in receptions with 49, receiving yards with 789, and receiving yards per game at 60.69. He led the team with six receiving touchdowns and also had a team-high seven total touchdowns adding a rushing score on the year.
 
• Brown was also fourth on the team in rushing yards with 187 on just 20 carries and averaged a team-high 9.4 yards per rush.
 
• Brown, who became the first freshman in Coastal Carolina history to post back-to-back 100-yard receiving games in wins over Georgia State (Sept. 22, 2022) and Georgia Southern (Oct. 1, 2022), caught at least one pass in all 13 games, while each one of his seven touchdowns on the season was 30 yards or more.
 
• Tyson Mobley will look to build on his junior season in 2022, in which he was named an All-Sun Belt honorable mention.
 
• In 2022, Mobley was third on the team with 40 receptions for 490 yards and second on the team with five receiving touchdowns.
 
  • With CCU's 2023 season opener at UCLA set to be broadcast live on ESPN, the Chanticleers, better known as #AmericasTeam, will have a total of 25 games nationally televised since the start of the 2020 season.
 
• Over the previously 24 nationally-televised contests, the Chanticleers are 18-6 overall.
 
• The Chants Thursday night game at home verses Georgia State on Sept. 21 is also scheduled for an ESPN national broadcast while CCU's game at Appalachian State on Oct. 10 is scheduled to be shown on ESPN2.
  DATE              OPPONENT                             TV
09/02/23          at UCLA                              ESPN
09/21/22          Georgia State                     ESPN
10/10/22          at Appalachian State        ESPN2
 
  • UCLA enters the season-opening contest receiving votes in both the Associated Press (AP) poll (66 pts) and the Coaches Poll (42 pts).
 
• Coming off a 9-4 overall record and 6-3 conference record last season, UCLA was picked to finish sixth in the annual Pac-12 Conference preseason poll of league media members.
 
• Head coach Chip Kelly is in his sixth season at UCLA, having turned that program around from 3-9 his first season in 2018 to a 9-4 record and a bid to the Sun Bowl last season.
 
• UCLA's offense was one of the best in the nation last year as the Bruins averaged 503.6 total yards of offense per game, which ranked third in the Pac–12 and fourth nationally, and averaged 39.2 points per game, which ranked third in the Pac-12 and eighth nationally.
 
• The Bruins led the Pac-12 and ranked sixth nationally in rushing last season averaging 237.2 yards per game.
 
• However, gone is do-it-all quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who passed for 3,169 yards and 27 touchdowns and rushed 118 times for 645 yards and 12 scores, as well as running back Zach Charbonnet, who led the team with 1,359 yards rushing and 14 scores.
 
• All three of UCLA's pass receivers are gone from last year in Jake Bobo (57 rec., 817 yards, 7 TDs), Kazmeir Allen (49 rec., 403 yards, 2 TDs), and Charbonnet (37 rec., 321 yards).
 
• Defensively, the Bruins gave up 29.0 points and 403.3 yards per game, which both ranked in the middle of the pack in the Pac-12 last season.
 
• UCLA does return seven of its top 10 tacklers from last season, including leading tackler Darius Muasau, who was named to the Butkus watch list. The linebacker totaled 91 stops, 3.0 tackles-for-loss, 1.0 sack, two interceptions, and forced one fumble.
 
• Fellow returner Laiatu Latu (36 tackles, 12.4 tackles-for-loss, 10.5 sacks, three forced fumbles) was named to the second-team of The Sporting News' College Football All-America team and was named to the watch lists for the Nagurski Trophy (nation's top defender), Bednarik Award (most outstanding defensive player in college football), and Polynesian Player of the Year.
 
  • Coastal Carolina and UCLA will meet for the first time on the gridiron in the 2023 season opener in the Rose Bowl Stadium.
 
• It is also the first time a CCU football team will face anyone from the Pac-12.
 
  • With CCU's non-conference wins over Army West Point (Sept. 3), Gardner-Webb (Sept. 10), and Buffalo (Sept. 17) last season, the Chants are on a 13-game winning streak in regular-season non-conference play.
 
• The Chanticleers' last non-conference regular-season loss came to Eastern Michigan (30-23) in the 2019 season opener on Aug. 31.
 
Regular-Season Non-Conference Winning Streak
DATE              OPPONENT                  RESULT
09/07/19          at Kansas                         W, 12-7
09/14/19          Norfolk State                    W, 46-7
09/21/19          at UMass                        W, 62-28
09/12/20          at Kansas                       W, 38-23
09/18/20          Campbell                        W, 43-21
12/05/20          #8 BYU                           W, 22-17
09/02/21          The Citadel                     W, 52-14
09/10/21          Kansas                           W, 49-22
09/18/21          at Buffalo                        W, 28-25
09/25/21          UMass                              W, 53-3
09/03/22          Army West Point            W, 38-28
09/10/22          Gardner-Webb               W, 31-27
09/17/22          Buffalo                            W, 41-24
 
 
For complete coverage of CCU football, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalFootball (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @goccusports (Instagram), or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.