Grayson McCall (born December 13, 2000) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach and former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

who is currently an offensive analyst for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. He played

for the Chanticleers and NC State Wolfpack. At Coastal Carolina, he was a three-time Sun Belt Player of the Year and led the team to its first undefeated regular season, first appearance on the AP and Coaches Poll rankings, as well as its first bowl game appearance in 2020, and was the NCAA Division I FBS leader in yards per completion and passer rating in 2021. He also played for the NC State Wolfpack for four games. McCall retired from playing due to a severe concussion suffered in each of the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Early years

At 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. 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 A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

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 An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

, Eastern Kentucky, and Gardner-Webb.

College career

Coastal Carolina

McCall played in two games his first year at Coastal Carolina in 2019 and took a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

. He completed all four of his pass attempts for 25 yards and a touchdown. He became the team's starting quarterback in 2020. 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, 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. Starting all twelve games, McCall led Coastal Carolina to wins in big matchups between undefeated teams against

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

and BYU. The latter game is considered to be the biggest win in program history and was nicknamed Mormons vs. Mullets. After the conclusion of the 2020 season McCall was named the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

Player of the Year, Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, received First-team All-Sun Belt honors and nominations for the

Davey O'Brien Award The Davey O'Brien Award, officially the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, named after Davey O'Brien, is presented annually to the collegiate American football player judged by the Davey O'Brien Foundation to be the best of all National C ...

and Manning Award. On December 12, 2022, it was announced that he would enter the NCAA transfer portal. ESPN reported on January 1, 2023, that McCall had exited the portal and would remain at Coastal for the 2023 season. McCall entered the transfer portal a second time on November 29, 2023.

NC State

On December 13, 2023, McCall announced that he would be transferring to NC State. 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. 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, although stated he might be interested in coaching.

College statistics

Coaching career

On January 6, 2025, McCall was hired by Coastal Carolina University as an offensive analyst, reuniting him with former head coach Tim Beck and Coastal Carolina.

Personal life

McCall has an older brother and a sister.

References

External links

NC State profile

Coastal Carolina player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCall, Grayson 2000 births Living people American football quarterbacks Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football coaches Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football players NC State Wolfpack football players Players of American football from Union County, North Carolina Coaches of American football from North Carolina