# Grayson McCall

Grayson McCall (born December 13, 2000) is an American college football coach and former American football quarterback who is currently an offensive analyst for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. He played college football 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 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, Chattanooga, 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. 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 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 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 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

Legend :
| | Led NCAA Division I FBS |
| Bold | Career high |
| Season | Games | Games | Passing | Passing | Passing | Passing | Passing | Passing | Passing | Passing | Passing | Rushing | Rushing | Rushing | Rushing |
| Season | GP | GS | Record | Comp | Att | Pct | Yards | Avg | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Coastal Carolina Chanticleers ||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | 2 | 0 | 0–0 | 4 | 4 | 100.0 | 25 | 6.3 | 1 | 0 | 235.0 | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 0 |
| 2020 | 11 | 11 | 10–1 | 172 | 250 | 68.8 | 2,488 | 10.0 | 26 | 3 | 184.3 | 111 | 569 | 5.1 | 7 |
| 2021 | 11 | 11 | 10–1 | 176 | 241 | 73.0 | 2,873 | 11.9 | 27 | 4 | 207.6 | 93 | 290 | 3.1 | 4 |
| 2022 | 11 | 11 | 9–2 | 207 | 297 | 69.7 | 2,700 | 9.1 | 24 | 2 | 171.4 | 91 | 195 | 2.1 | 6 |
| 2023 | 7 | 7 | 4–3 | 151 | 224 | 67.4 | 1,919 | 8.6 | 10 | 6 | 147.8 | 53 | 48 | 0.9 | 1 |
| NC State Wolfpack ||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 4 | 4 | 2–2 | 53 | 80 | 66.3 | 518 | 6.5 | 3 | 2 | 128.0 | 19 | 53 | 2.8 | 0 |
| Career | 46 | 44 | 35−9 | 763 | 1,096 | 69.6 | 10,523 | 9.6 | 91 | 16 | 174.7 | 369 | 1,166 | 3.2 | 18 |

## 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.