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Alex Hickey: For Big Ten teams in need of a QB, portal gem Grayson McCall is the right call
By Alex Hickey
Published:
Need a quarterback? Better call McCall.
Grayson McCall, a 3-year starter at Coastal Carolina, is currently the most intriguing quarterback in the transfer portal. He’ll make 1 more start for the Chanticleers in the Birmingham Bowl before exercising his final year of college eligibility elsewhere.
And just about every program in the Big Ten with a quarterback vacancy should be interested in recruiting McCall to be its next signal-caller.
McCall is a 3-time Sun Belt player of the year who has completed 70% of his career attempts to the tune of 78 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. There were 5 Big Ten starters who threw more than 8 interceptions this season alone.
McCall has also rushed for 1,056 yards over his 3-year career, making him an ideal dual-threat.
Auburn is the first school on McCall’s list of scheduled visits, but the following Big Ten programs should be among those giving him a call.
Ohio State
Buckeyes fans may blanch at the thought of handing the reins to a Group of 5 quarterback. But in all likelihood, someone has to replace CJ Stroud next season. And that choice will come down to an inexperienced in-house quarterback, or a veteran from the transfer portal.
Clearly, the Buckeyes have succeeded with the in-house method for the past decade. It’s an assembly line in Columbus.
Sophomore Kyle McCord or freshman Devin Brown may well be ready for the responsibility by next season. And although McCall has never faced a Power 5 opponent in his career, neither have they.
Maybe Ryan Day will look in the direction of a veteran newcomer for the first time.
Ohio State has lost a quarterback into the portal who went on to win a national championship in Joe Burrow. Perhaps the portal can return the favor with McCall.
Nebraska
Matt Rhule’s NFL head coaching stint didn’t go well, but he knows what NFL teams are looking for in a quarterback. And thanks to that experience, he can sell McCall on precise tutelage for reaching the next level.
Turnovers have plagued Nebraska quarterbacks for a decade. McCall’s intelligence protecting the football would make him the ideal quarterback to ring in a new era for the Cornhuskers.
Plus, we know Nebraska fans love a running quarterback. McCall would recall the glories of the past while still running a modern passing attack.
Purdue
If new coach Ryan Walters is looking to make a splash, this is it.
Purdue has a reputation to uphold as the Big Ten’s cradle of quarterbacks. Signing McCall would get the rookie head coach started off on the right foot.
Now that Walters has found his offensive coordinator in West Virginia’s Graham Harrell, he can begin the process of courting a quarterback.
Illinois
McCall makes sense for the Illini more than the Illini make sense for McCall. But Illinois still needs to make the pitch.
Bret Bielema’s pitch? I’ve done this before with a quarterback from the state of North Carolina. And I can do it again.
Though he’s rarely built his offenses around quarterback play, Bielema did so at Wisconsin with Russell Wilson in 2011. With the right player — and McCall is that player — Bielema would surely dip back into that pool. Or more likely cannonball into it.
You also get the sense that a quarterback with a mullet is the kind of guy who would easily get along with Bielema.
Wisconsin
This match may be the best fit for both sides.
“I’ve always wanted a guy that can move,” Luke Fickell told Wisconsin reporters this week. “It doesn’t mean he’s got to be a running quarterback, but if you can’t extend things, if you can’t make things happen with your athleticism, I think it limits you.”
McCall is very much a guy who can make things happen with his athleticism. And the possibility of pairing him with Braelon Allen in run-pass option situations would be a true nightmare for opposing defenses.
Wisconsin can sell McCall on working with offensive coordinator Phil Longo, who developed North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye into a top-10 Heisman candidate this season. Maye and McCall have similar skill sets, making him the perfect fit for Longo’s offense.
What about Rutgers, Indiana or Northwestern?
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. And sometimes most of the shots you do take.
Alex Hickey is an award-winning writer who has watched Big Ten sports since it was a numerically accurate description of league membership. Alex has covered college football and basketball since 2008, with stops on the McNeese State, LSU and West Virginia beats before being hired as Saturday Tradition's Big Ten columnist in 2021. He is an Illinois native and 2004 Indiana University graduate.