(WJHL) – The Bucs came out on the short end of a 20-17 contest in Charleston, South Carolina over the weekend as they dropped their conference opener to The Citadel on Saturday.
One of the bright spots for the Blue and Gold, however, was the play of linebacker Chandler Martin.
The redshirt-freshman made 23 tackles against the Bulldogs, including one for a loss, setting a new program best for stops made in a single game.
The previous record (22) was held by Nakia Thomas, which he set in a game against Appalachian State in 1993.
As it turns out, almost no one was aware of Chandler’s accomplishment until after the game had finished – including Chandler himself.
“I had no idea – I was just trying to get around the ball and push the pile the opposite direction,” Chandler said. “Just trying to help my teammates do whatever we can to get the win.”
Chandler’s coach said he was happy to see the record beaten.
“You go back and you watch the film he was in on a lot of tackles, obviously,” head coach George Quarles said Monday. “If there’s a game that you’re going to have a chance to break the school record on, it’s against The Citadel.”
“You’re going to get plenty of opportunities to make tackles inside and I think Chandler did a good job of that.”
Senior wide receiver Will Huzzie was proud of his teammate for reaching that mark, and not the least bit surprised.
“When he first came in as a freshman, he was doing stuff like that all the time,” Huzzie said. “Chan[dler] is known for making plays at practice – obviously you can see practice is carrying over to the game.”
Chandler was named the Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, posting the most tackles by a SoCon player since the 2012 season.
