Could CCU QB Grayson McCall be out the rest of the season? Chadwell gives an update
Coastal Carolina coach Jamey Chadwell said Monday that it is possible star quarterback Grayson McCall will be lost for the remainder of the season, but the team is hopeful he’ll return.
Chadwell said the injury is in the area of McCall’s shoulders, but the exact injury wasn’t clear and the timetable for a return was uncertain as well.
“We don’t know how long he’s going to be out,” Chadwell said. “We hope to get him back before the end of the regular season. We’ve done a bunch of tests and all those different things trying to figure out exactly what the injury is. There’s a pain-tolerance thing now, too with it when you’re dealing with your upper body and shoulder areas, there’s some challenge with that playing the quarterback position.
“He could be out the rest of the season, based on the recovery and [healing], he could come back before then. . . . We really don’t have a complete answer right now.”
Chadwell gave an update Monday on the injury and McCall’s status after he was held out of CCU’s 28-8 win at Georgia Southern on Saturday, when it was deemed by the team to be an “upper-body” injury that would sideline him “indefinitely.”
He said Wednesday the injury will not require surgery. “Then the next question is if he plays again will it injure him long-term?” Chadwell said. “If that answer is ‘no,’ then it goes into how much pain can he handle and recovery and all those different things.”
The Chants (8-1, 4-1 Sun Belt Conference) are ranked No. 21/22 respectively in the USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll and Associated Press Top 25 Poll and have three regular-season games remaining.
They host Georgia State at Brooks Stadium at 2 p.m. Saturday, host Texas State at 1 p.m. Nov. 20 and travel to South Alabama for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on Nov. 26 — the Friday after Thanksgiving. The Chants are also in the running to qualify for the Sun Belt championship game on Dec. 4 and will be selected to play in the program’s second bowl game.
Senior Bryce Carpenter started Saturday for the ninth time in his CCU career. He started two games as a freshman in 2018 and the final six games of the 2019 season.
Carpenter was 13-of-20 passing for 85 yards and a touchdown Saturday, and gained 44 yards rushing and scored a touchdown on 13 carries in a game played through torrential rain.
“Bryce and Grayson are obviously different players. Bryce has his strengths and there are some things obviously that he’s not as good at,” Chadwell said. “So what you try to do, you take our identity and what we know we need to do to try to move the ball, then you add what you feel Bryce is capable of and what he’s good at, then you try to put that in there.
“. . . He’s a great runner. He’s really good there. He does a good job in our pass game from an RPO [run-pass option] and standpoint, and you like to try to get him outside the pocket and let him be a true dual-threat quarterback. We can do some different things of that nature.”
McCall leads the nation in passing efficiency, yards per pass attempt and yards per completion, and is third in completion percentage.
Chadwell said the injury was incurred in CCU’s Oct. 28 win against Troy, though he said he was unsure exactly when it occurred.
McCall was forced to leave the game for a few plays in the third quarter after taking a big hit on a run and vomiting on the field.
“We think it was before then,” Chadwell said. “There was a hit maybe in the second quarter, then later in the fourth quarter on a third down play he scrambles and gets to the sideline and one of their players sort of drags him after the play was over, that could have been it as well. We don’t know. But the adrenaline was going during that game where you didn’t feel it as much, then afterwards that next day it started showing up, the severity of the injury.”
Immediately following the big third-quarter hit against Troy on McCall’s fourth consecutive run, he took a knee on his way to the sideline, then sat down and vomited a couple times while chugging water and speaking to members of the CCU training staff.
He entered the medical tent on the sideline and emerged in time to jog down the sideline to congratulate teammates after they completed a scoring drive. He then returned for CCU’s next possession and played the remainder of the team’s offensive snaps.
“I just took a shot to the gut and with me throwing up and stuff, it was just precautionary stuff on the sideline making sure I was alright,” McCall said following the Troy game.
Carpenter has played in eight games this season and has completed 24 of 39 passes (61.5 %) for 250 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, and has rushed for 180 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries.
For his career, Carpenter has completed 154 of 236 passes (65.3 %) for 1,641 yards with 16 TDs and four interceptions, and has gained 775 yards rushing on 203 carries (3.8 yards per rush).
This season, McCall has completed 116 of 158 passes (73.4 %) for 2,063 yards and 17 touchdowns with two interceptions, and has rushed for 138 yards and three TDs on 55 carries. For his career, McCall has completed 71 % of his passes and thrown 44 touchdowns and five interceptions.
CCU is tied with Appalachian State (7-2, 4-1) for the Sun Belt’s East Division lead. The Mountaineers own the tiebreaker over the Chants for the division crown based on their 30-27 win over Coastal on Oct. 20 in Boone, N.C. The East champion will face No. 25/24 Louisiana (8-1, 6-0) in the Sun Belt title game, which will be hosted by the team with the best conference record.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 3:08 PM.
