by J.T. Toth
Photo courtesy of Coastal Carolina Athletics.
At Draft 412, the NFL draft talk never ends. We will keep you ready for the next set of gridiron stars—from today and all the way until draft night 2024. We will bring you mock drafts, player profiles, individual team needs, and everything else you may need related to the 2024 NFL Draft.
Today’s Spotlight - Coastal Carolina, Quarterback, Grayson McCall
Name- Grayson McCall
Pos- Quarterback
Team- Coastal Carolina
HT/WT- 6’3” 220 lbs.
Born- 12/13/2000
Home – Indian Trail, North Carolina
Grayson McCall was a three-year starter at quarterback for Porter Ridge High School, and he also earned a letter in basketball. He was named the 2017 Southwestern 4A Player of the Year and in his career, threw for 3,863 yards and 34 touchdowns to go along with 3,003 yards and 41 touchdowns on the ground. McCall was considered a three-star dual-threat quarterback by 247Sports.
McCall took a redshirt during his freshman season in 2019, only playing in two games. In 2020, though, he arrived onto the scene throwing for 2,488 yards and 26 touchdowns. He was a finalist for the Manning Award, the Maxwell Award, the Davey O’Brien award, and was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.
McCall won the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Award again in 2021 after putting up career numbers. He completed a Coastal Carolina record 73% of his passes for 2,874 yards and 27 touchdowns, and only threw 3 interceptions, on his way to being named a nominee for most quarterback awards. He broke the FBS quarterback efficiency record with a 207.6 rating.
In 2022, he started 11 games and missed 2 due to injury, but still managed to capture his 3rd straight Player of the Year Award. McCall completed 70% of his passes for 2,700 yards, 24 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
In his first game of 2023, he threw for 271 yards and a touchdown at UCLA. He also threw 2 interceptions in the second half to already match last year’s total.
Grayson McCall is a quarterback who excels at extending plays and is willing to take some hits to make a play. He is tough and gritty and does a lot of his damage off of RPO and read options. His mobility makes defenses respect his legs, and he has a quick release, being most comfortable in quick passes.
He has an uncanny ability to not turn the ball over and has only thrown 6 interceptions over the past two seasons in over 550 attempts. He has accuracy to all three levels and enough zip to make each throw. McCall has excellent play fake ability and this leads to some open opportunities.
On the downside, transitioning from a read-option offense to an NFL style offense will take some time. He is quick to put the ball away and run and doesn’t trust his pocket. He tends to throw the deep ball down the sideline before he tries to strike down the middle. His pre-snap reads will need to be dramatically improved before he can excel at the next level. Though he completes a lot of passes, his ball placement is lacking when giving his receivers their best chance to make a play.
Grayson McCall’s style of play takes Draft 412 back to the Johnny Manziel days of Texas A&M. Both have the ability to extend plays and throw on the run. McCall will be a quarterback who will have to make his mark in post-season bowls and the combine.
Strengths
Mobility
Tough, Gritty
Extending plays
Not turning ball over
Weaknesses
Pre-snap reads
College offense
Runs too soon
Ball placement
Final Analysis
Grayson McCall is a gritty, tough football player who has to prove that he can run an NFL style offense. If he can win a 4th player of the year award and perform well at the combine, he has a chance to be on some team’s radars.
Draft 412 Draft Prediction - 6th or 7th round