Coastal Carolina, Grayson McCall provide second act as good as the first against Campbell
The second act was as good as the first for Grayson McCall and his Coastal Carolina teammates.
The redshirt freshman quarterback threw for 273 yards and two touchdowns and the Chanticleers defeated Campbell 43-21 Friday night at Brooks Stadium in a game televised nationally on ESPN.
The Chants won at Kansas in their opener last week on Fox Sports 1, so Coastal has made the most of its national television exposure enabled by fewer games being played around the country because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In his second college start, McCall completed 11 of 16 passes and added 22 yards rushing on three carries.
“I thought he did a really nice job,” CCU coach Jamey Chadwell said. “I think out of those 11 of 16 there were three or four drops in there where hit guys right on the money. I thought he threw the ball well. He ran our offense and our option game really well. He did a good job with protections and those things. He continues to improve.”
The Chants are 2-0 for the first time in their four years as an FBS program, and following an off week they begin Sun Belt Conference play at home on Oct. 3 against Arkansas State.
“I’m thankful that we’re 2-0, that’s awesome,” Chadwell said, “but we have certain goals that we want to accomplish and that’s going to start in two weeks.”
Coastal has yet to commit a turnover this season with McCall, who is 6-3 and 200 pounds, at the helm of the offense, and he has been well-protected. The Chants haven’t allowed a sack and just two tackles for loss in his first two games – none Friday.
“We take a lot of pride in that. We work really hard to make sure our quarterback doesn’t get hit . . . and as a team we can progress as an offense,” said junior tackle Antwine Loper, a Carolina Forest High graduate.
Coastal’s defense recorded eight tackles for loss, including five sacks, against Campbell after notching 12 tackles for loss and five sacks in the 38-23 win against Kansas.
“Up front our main thing is to get after that quarterback, get after that running back, cause havoc in the backfield, make them nervous. That’s our mentality,” said redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Jerrod Clark.
Linebacker Silas Kelly had a team-high eight tackles including two sacks, defensive lineman C.J. Brewer had seven tackles including 1.5 sacks, and Clark had five tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.
An interception by safety Alex Spillum at the CCU 5-yard line and 39-yard return was the only turnover of the game and set up the Chants’ first score on their first possession. CCU has capitalized on all four of its turnovers this season, converting them into 28 points.
“The big thing at least the first two weeks is we’ve not turned it over, which is big, and our defense has gotten us turnovers and we’ve scored touchdowns off those turnovers,” Chadwell said. “Any time you can get points off turnovers, that’s a huge deal.”
C.J. Marable scored the game’s first touchdown on a 3-yard inside run after McCall completed passes of 31 yards to Jaivon Heiligh and 20 yards to Greg Latushko during the Chants’ opening drive.
Junior Shermari Jones, a junior college transfer in the offseason, capped a nine-play, 62-yard drive with a 3-yard TD run to give CCU a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter.
Campbell got on the board about 4 minutes into the second quarter on a 45-yard field goal by Robert Brown. The Campbell scoring drive was aided by a targeting penalty on a tackle by CCU sophomore cornerback Jordan Morris that resulted in his ejection.
McCall’s first touchdown pass of the game was a 21-yard throw to Heiligh over a defensive back on single coverage near the right sideline. It completed an 11-play, 86-yard drive and gave CCU a 21-3 lead.
Campbell pulled within 21-9 with a minute left in the first half on a 9-yard run by C.J. Freeman that followed a pass interference penalty on safety Brayden Matts.
The Chants struck first in the second half with a ground attack, rushing eight consecutive times for a 60-yard drive that culminated with a 3-yard Reese White touchdown run to give CCU a 28-9 lead.
After Campbell scored to pull within 13 points, the Chants broke the game open in the fourth quarter. Marable scored on a 9-yard run and Isaiah Likely scored on a 57-yard pass down the right sideline from McCall to give CCU a 43-15 lead.
The Chants hit a number of big plays with six receptions of 20 yards or more, including Likely’s 57-yard TD and a 65-yard connection to set up a score to Kameron Brown, a graduate transfer from Charleston Southern.
Campbell, a member of the Big South Conference, fell to 0-2 with a one-point loss at Georgia Southern last week. The Camels are playing against four FBS opponents this fall despite its conference not playing until at least this spring.
The Chants were allowed an occupancy of 5,000 because of coronavirus restrictions and all tickets were sold.
Friday’s game was the first sporting event on campus since the baseball team defeated Wake Forest on March 11.
“To be the first athletic contest during a pandemic, then having it on ESPN, national television, what a blessing that is for our university,” Chadwell said. “What that shows you is this can work. Football conferences, teams, they can make it work if you allow us to follow protocols.
“Our university had something they all could rally around on a Friday night. . . . For one day they had that opportunity to be college students, and have a college atmosphere in a college town.”
This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 10:56 PM.
