NEW ORLEANS — Coastal Carolina quarterback Grayson McCall enters the 2022 season as defending two-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and he is the odds on favorite to win that award for a third consecutive year.
McCall was named the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Player of the Year based on voting by the league coaches.
The redshirt junior has been named to the preseason watch lists for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award and the Maxwell Award.
McCall set a new NCAA Division I FBS record in passing efficiency rating at 207.6 last season in 2021, eclipsing the previous two records set by Alabama's Mac Jones (203.1) in 2020 and LSU's Joe Burrow (202.0) in 2019. He enters the 2022 season as the active career leader in all of NCAA Division I FBS in career passing efficiency at 196.09.
In April, he was named the 2021 Blanchard-Rogers Trophy Winner, an award presented by the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame to the best player in the state of South Carolina. Last season, he ranked in the top 25 in all of NCAA Division I FBS in 2021 in several offensive categories including - passing efficiency (207.6), yards per pass attempt (11.92), completion percentage (73.0), passing yards per completion (16.32), points responsible for per game (17.6), passing touchdowns (27), passing yards per game (261.2), total offense per game (287.5), and points responsible for (194).
McCall is 20-2 as a starter the last two years as Coastal's starting quarterback, A two-time All-Sun Belt first-team selection and a two-time semifinalist for both the Maxwell Award and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award (2020 and 2021), he was also a top-10 finalist for the 2021 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award last season after being named a finalist for the Manning Award in 2020.
After a stellar freshman campaign, Coastal Carolina Bandit Josiah Stewart was voted the league's preseason defensive player of the year.
A 2021 All-Sun Belt first team selection, the Massachusetts native shattered the CCU single-season sacks record with 12.5 sacks in his first collegiate season in 2021. His 12.5 sacks led the Sun Belt and were just one shy of the Sun Belt single-season record of 13.5 sacks. They also ranked fifth nationally and were the most by a true freshman in all of FBS on the year. He finished the season with 15.5 tackles-for-loss, which was the second-most in a single season in Coastal history, the most by a true freshman nationally, and ranked sixth in the Sun Belt. His 12.0 tackles-for-loss and 9.0 sacks in Sun Belt Conference play led the league.
Both McCall and Stewart landed on the All-Sun Belt First Team along with CCU offensive lineman Willie Lampkin and defensive back D'Jordan Strong.
Chanticleer nose tackle Jerrod Clark earned a spot on the All-Sun Belt Second Team.
The Chanticleers were picked to finish second in the East Division behind defending conference champion Appalchian State who is the pick to win the Sun Belt Conference. Louisiana is the pick to win the West Division. CCU did receive a pair of first place votes.
