Grayson McCall (born December 13, 2000) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, where he was a three-time Sun Belt Player of the Year. He also played for the NC State Wolfpack.
 McCall in 2023 | |
| No. 10, 2 | |
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| Position | Quarterback |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | December 13, 2000 Indian Trail, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Weight | 220 lb (100 kg) |
| Career history | |
| College |
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| Bowl games |
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| High school | Porter Ridge (Indian Trail) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Early years
editAt the age of 12, McCall joined a traveling Little League all-star baseball team that played in a televised tournament in Cooperstown, New York. McCall decided to quit baseball before high school.[1] McCall attended Porter Ridge High School in Indian Trail, North Carolina. During his high school career, he passed for 3,863 yards with 34 touchdowns and rushed for 3,003 yards and 41 touchdowns. He was listed as a two-star recruit and the 2889th player coming out of high school in the class of 2019. He committed to Coastal Carolina University on December 19, 2018, to play college football over offers from Army, Chattanooga, Eastern Kentucky, and Gardner-Webb.[2]
College career
editCoastal Carolina
editMcCall played in two games his first year at Coastal Carolina in 2019 and took a redshirt. He completed all four of his pass attempts for 25 yards and a touchdown. He became the team's starting quarterback in 2020.[1][3][4][5] During the 2020 NCAA football season, Grayson McCall made a name for himself by leading the last place projected Coastal Carolina football team to its first-ever undefeated regular season, first-ever appearance on the AP and Coaches Poll peaking at number 12,[6] first-ever Co-Sun Belt conference championship, as well as its first-ever bowl game appearance in the 2020 Cure Bowl where they suffered their only loss on the season.[7] Starting all twelve games, McCall led Coastal Carolina to wins in big matchups between undefeated teams against Louisiana and BYU. The latter game is considered to be the biggest win in program history and was nicknamed Mormons vs. Mullets.[8] After the conclusion of the 2020 season McCall was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, Sun Belt Freshman of the Year,[9] received First-team All-Sun Belt honors and nominations for the Davey O'Brien Award[10] and Manning Award.[11]
On December 12, 2022, it was announced that he would enter the NCAA transfer portal.[12] ESPN reported on January 1, 2023, that McCall had exited the portal and would remain at Coastal for the 2023 season.[13] McCall entered the transfer portal a second time on November 29, 2023. [14]
NC State
editOn December 13, 2023, McCall announced that he would be transferring to NC State.[15] Prior to the first game of the season against Western Carolina, McCall was named the starting quarterback of the Wolfpack, earning the job over freshman quarterbacks CJ Bailey and Lex Thomas. On October 5, 2024, McCall suffered a severe head injury in the first quarter of the game against Wake Forest, resulting in his helmet coming off his head in the air after being hit simultaneously by two Demon Deacons defensive players.[16] Following his injury, Bailey was named the starting quarterback for the Wolfpack. On October 23, McCall announced his retirement from football, citing the injury against the Demon Deacons as well as another devastating head injury he suffered the prior season with Coastal Carolina as the reason he would be stepping away.[17]
College statistics
edit| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Led NCAA Division I FBS | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Season | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Comp | Att | Pct | Yards | Avg | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | |
| Coastal Carolina Chanticleers | |||||||||||||||
| 2019 | 2 | 0 | 0–0 | 4 | 4 | 100.0 | 25 | 6.3 | 1 | 0 | 235.0 | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 0 |
| 2020 | 11 | 11 | 10–1 | 172 | 250 | 68.8 | 2,488 | 10.0 | 26 | 3 | 184.3 | 111 | 569 | 5.1 | 7 |
| 2021 | 11 | 11 | 10–1 | 176 | 241 | 73.0 | 2,873 | 11.9 | 27 | 4 | 207.6 | 93 | 290 | 3.1 | 4 |
| 2022 | 11 | 11 | 9–2 | 207 | 297 | 69.7 | 2,700 | 9.1 | 24 | 2 | 171.4 | 91 | 195 | 2.1 | 6 |
| 2023 | 7 | 7 | 4–3 | 151 | 224 | 67.4 | 1,919 | 8.6 | 10 | 6 | 147.8 | 53 | 48 | 0.9 | 1 |
| NC State Wolfpack | |||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 4 | 4 | 2–2 | 53 | 80 | 66.3 | 518 | 6.5 | 3 | 2 | 128.0 | 19 | 53 | 2.8 | 0 |
| Career | 46 | 44 | 35−9 | 763 | 1,096 | 69.6 | 10,523 | 9.6 | 91 | 16 | 174.7 | 369 | 1,166 | 3.2 | 18 |
Personal life
editMcCall has an older brother and a sister.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c Blondin, Alan (October 22, 2020). "Who is Grayson McCall? CCU's young QB has been a football fanatic nearly since birth". Myrtle Beach Sun. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
- ^ "Grayson McCall, Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, Quarterback". 247Sports. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
- ^ Vernon, Jeremy (October 9, 2020). "Coastal's QB coach explains how McCall rose from third-string to starter". The Enquirer Journal. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
- ^ Kelly, Danny (October 7, 2020). "CCU freshman Grayson McCall quickly making a name for himself". Post and Courier. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
- ^ Fowler, Scott (December 17, 2020). "Coastal Carolina QB Grayson McCall headlines best underdog story in college football". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
- ^ Blondin, Alan (December 15, 2020). "CCU moves up again in the College Football Playoff rankings. What that means for Chants". Myrtle Beach Online. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
- ^ Bromberg, Nick (December 27, 2020). "Liberty ends No. 12 Coastal Carolina's undefeated season in a wild overtime Cure Bowl finish". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
- ^ Kercheval, Ben (December 5, 2020). "BYU vs. Coastal Carolina score: No. 13 Cougars fall 1 yard shy of comeback as No. 18 Chanticleers hang on". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on December 6, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ Blondin, Alan (December 21, 2020). "Coastal Carolina nearly sweeps Sun Belt Conference's top awards. See who claimed honors". Myrtle Beach Online. Archived from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
- ^ "CCU QB Grayson McCall named a Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award Semifinalist". WMBF News. December 7, 2020. Archived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- ^ "Allstate Sugar Bowl Announces Manning Award Finalists". AllStateSugarBowl.org. December 17, 2020. Archived from the original on January 16, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
- ^ McDaniel, Mike (December 12, 2022). "Prominent College Football Quarterback Enters Transfer Portal on Monday". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
- ^ VanHaaren, Tom (January 1, 2023). "Coastal Carolina QB Grayson McCall exits portal, source says". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
- ^ "2024 College football Transfer Portal".
- ^ Morse, Ben (December 13, 2023). "CCU quarterback Grayson McCall is transferring to NC State". Myrtle Beach Sun News. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
- ^ DeMeyer, Tess. "NC State QB Grayson McCall carted off field on stretcher vs. Wake Forest". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ^ Vannini, Chris. "NC State QB Grayson McCall, former star at Coastal Carolina, retires from football". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 24, 2024.