Coastal Carolina freshman QB McCall impressed in his first start. The plan moving forward.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Grayson McCall was impressive in his first collegiate start at Kansas on Saturday, and he’ll have more opportunities to impress as the season progresses.
McCall beat out experienced juniors Fred Payton and Bryce Carpenter to earn the season-opening start and lead Coastal Carolina to a 38-23 win over the Jayhawks. CCU coach Jamey Chadwell said the job is now his to lose.
“We compete all the time, but it’s his job,” Chadwell said. “He earned that job and we’re going to ride with him through the ups and downs of a freshman quarterback.”
As a redshirt freshman, Chadwell is not making McCall available to the media for now. But McCall spoke to CCU’s sports information department following Saturday’s win.
“It’s a really good start to the season,” he said. “A lot of sacrifices up to this point for us to even just be able to play this game, so I’m really proud of the team and we’re going to build on it and keep going.”
McCall completed 11 of 18 passes for 133 yards and three touchdowns, and added 73 yards and two scores on 11 carries. He completed passes to six different players, led the offense to 318 yards and no turnovers, and was not sacked.
“It’s one game, so I wouldn’t say he’s special right now,” Chadwell said. “He played one game and did well. He could go out and lay an egg and you’ll ask me why I’m playing him Friday. But he does have a great knack in the pocket, he’s a tough kid, and the moment does not seem too big for him. . . . He’s got a pretty level head when he’s out there on the field, and I do think that’s got a chance to help him become hopefully a special player for us.”
McCall had a hand in all five CCU touchdowns with scoring runs of 12 and 2 yards and TD passes of 25 yards to Jaivon Heiligh and 2 yards to C.J. Brewer and Isaiah Likely, and showed an ability to improvise with plays including a shovel pass in the flat on Likely’s score.
“He’s a great quarterback, he’s a great leader. I have a lot of confidence in him,” Heiligh said. “He can throw the ball really well. He puts it on the spot really well. And as you saw Saturday he can play.”
McCall received national attention for his play, as he was named a College Football Performance Award (CFPA) National Performer of the Week honorable mention, a Manning Award “Star of the Week,” and to the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award’s Great 8 list.
“It’s awesome for him and awesome for our team to get some accolades, but he’s still got to grow and still got to do certain things,” Chadwell said. “So I want to make sure he’s focusing on the things he needs to do and he continues to improve.”
McCall emerged this offseason as a challenger for the starting QB job with Payton and Carpenter, who combined to start 18 games over the past two seasons. McCall missed about three weeks in the summer because he needed to be quarantined, then Payton missed nearly two weeks this fall with a sore Achilles tendon.
“He had a good spring practice, so I knew he had a chance there,” Chadwell said. “That [quarantine] put him behind, but we knew his talent was there and he just needed to get opportunities and get reps. Fred Payton got hurt during fall camp with his Achilles, so Grayson was able to get more and more opportunities there and took advantage of it.”
He was rated a three-star dual-threat quarterback recruit by 247Sports out of Porter Ridge High in Indian Land, N.C., after rushing for 3,000 yards and throwing for 3,863 yards and 34 touchdowns in three years as a starter, though he only completed 50 percent of his career passes.
McCall redshirted last season but played in two games, completing all four of his passes for 25 yards and a TD.
“Last year was really important for me. I got way more comfortable with the playbook,” McCall told CCU’s sports information department. “I felt comfortable out there [Saturday]. My teammates told me they believed in me and we went out there and did it together.”
In the spotlight
For the second consecutive week, the CCU football team will be featured on national television and will have the stage to itself – along with its opponent.
The Chanticleers’ game against Campbell at Brooks Stadium will be the only college football game being played Friday night and will be broadcast on ESPN. The game time was moved back 30 minutes to 7:30 to accommodate the network.
On Saturday, Coastal kicked off against Kansas on Fox Sports 1 at approximately 10:20 p.m. (Eastern), and was the only game in the country to start after 8 p.m. that day.
“That’s a big deal,” Chadwell said. “You’re the game on Friday night. There are not tons of high school states playing, obviously in our state we’re not playing yet. So I think for us to have a chance to get on ESPN and show the progress our program is making and have a chance to show what our university is about, that’s a big deal for everybody, not just our team, but our university and our whole region.
“. . . Hopefully we can take advantage of it and play well Friday night.”
Planning to attend?
Coastal Carolina will be able to host up to 5,000 attendees at its home football games in the 2020 season, according to the school and the South Carolina Department of Commerce.
But that cap is the total amount of people allowed in the stadium and includes teams, coaching staffs, game day staff, game day operations, working media, band, cheerleaders and spirit teams, volunteers, and spectators.
So the actual number of spectators is expected to be less than 4,000, according to CCU assistant athletic director for media relations Kevin Davis. Of those, 1,500 tickets are being reserved for students who have until the day prior to the game to claim them. What students don’t claim will be sold to the public as single-game tickets.
The other nearly 2,500 tickets are allotted each game to season ticket holders, to sponsors and for distribution through the Chanticleer Athletic Foundation, which supports CCU athletics.
Spectators will be required to wear face coverings at all times except when eating and drinking and are expected to practice physical distancing in the stadium. Game day workers, media, staff, etc. will have their temperatures checked and will fill out coronavirus questionnaires upon entering the stadium.
Parking lots will open two hours before the announced kickoff times and close one hour after the game. Shuttles from parking lots will have reduced capacities and protective sneeze guards have been installed around the driver and between each row of seating.
Tailgating will be allowed at an individual’s discretion but it will be minimized. Tents and other items that encourage large groups are prohibited. Tailgating must be maintained within the individual parking space area and cannot be located in or around public green spaces, such as where students normally congregate. No tailgating will be allowed once the game starts or after the game.
There’s a chance of rain on Friday so that may dampen excitement and fan participation for the home opener.
COVID-19 impact
Coastal was only minimally impacted by the coronavirus when it traveled to Kansas on Saturday. Chadwell said last week that four players who were expected to play any significant minutes were left behind because they were in quarantine.
The team may be even less affected this week by the coronavirus.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Chadwell said the Chants were expecting to regain the services of two of those players, and they had not lost the availability of any additional players from recent testing who are expected to see the playing field.
“They should be able to play,” Chadwell said. “Whether we’ll play them or not will be based on them coming back and how well they’ve picked up stuff and all those things, but they should be able to go and give us something.”
Per Sun Belt Conference requirements, the Chants will undergo one test the week of games that will occur approximately 72 hours prior to the game. The Chants took those tests on Tuesday and by midday Wednesday Chadwell had received most of the results from the training staff. “As of right now we should not miss anybody from a test procedure, or quarantine, that would be playing in the game,” Chadwell said.
Sun Belt success
The Sun Belt Conference went 3-0 in games against the Big 12 on Saturday, as Louisiana defeated Iowa State 31-14 and Arkansas State knocked off Kansas State 35-31 before CCU beat Kansas. All three wins came on the road.
“We definitely knew we were 2-0 and didn’t want to be the one to lose,” Chadwell said. “The Sun Belt had shown well up to that point and we wanted to make sure we weren’t the one that didn’t follow through. We figured after being 2-0 all eyes would be on that third one to see if we could run the trifecta there.
“Our guys were aware of it and I talked about it in the pregame. I said, ‘Hey, we’re representing our school but we’re also representing our conference and we’ve got a chance to do something today that could be historic for us and put the Sun Belt out in the forefront of what’s going on college football-wise.’ I’m glad we could be a part of it.”
Sun Belt teams are not facing opponents from Power Five conferences this week. In non-conference games, other Sun Belt teams in action are Troy at Middle Tennessee, Georgia Southern vs. Florida Atlantic, and Appalachian State at Marshall.
“I think now more and more people across the country because of the lack of inventory so to speak, the lack of games, they’re going to have a chance to really see us week in and week out, and I think realize we are a really good conference from top to bottom and have really good teams and coaches, and I that’s the blessing in disguise,” Chadwell said.
CCU’S REVISED SCHEDULE
Sept. 12 CCU 38, Kansas 23
Sept. 18 vs. Campbell, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Oct. 3 vs. Arkansas State
Oct. 17 at Louisiana
Oct. 24 vs. Georgia Southern
Oct. 29 at Georgia State
Nov. 7 vs. South Alabama
Nov. 14 at Troy
Nov. 21 vs. Appalachian State
Nov. 28 at Texas State
Dec. 5 vs. Liberty
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 4:45 PM.
