Coastal’s McCall named to Davey O’Brien QB class of 2020

FORT WORTH, Texas (CCU) – Coastal Carolina redshirt freshman quarterback Grayson McCall is one of 35 quarterbacks named to the Davey O’Brien QB Class of 2020, the Davey O’Brien Foundation announced today. Each member of the group is now an official candidate to win the 2020 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award.

The starting quarterback for the nationally-ranked Chanticleers has completed 117-of-174 for 1,747 yards, 20 touchdowns, and just one interception. Over his eight games played this year, he has thrown for two touchdowns or more in seven games, including a career-high four touchdowns twice. He has also thrown for 250 yards or more three times.

With his 20 touchdowns and just one interception this season, McCall the nation in touchdowns to interception ratio.

In fact, McCall enters this week’s contest versus Liberty (Dec. 5) with 116-straight pass attempts without an interception, which is tied for seventh nationally.

McCall is a three-time Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award’s Great 8 List selection, a two-time Manning Awards “Star of the Week” honoree, a two-time Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week winner, a two-time FWAA “Fresh Four” selection, a Maxwell Award watch list addition, and was named to the FWAA Freshman All-American watch list.

A point scoring model was used to determine the quarterbacks in the Class of 2020. Points were awarded to players based on their overall performance as well as inclusion on the Davey O’Brien Preseason Watch List, weekly Great 8 lists, and National Quarterback of the Week winners.

The Class of 2020 consists of players from all 10 FBS conferences as well as football independents. The Atlantic Coast Conference has the most honorees with seven, followed by the Southeastern Conference and American Athletic Conference with five. The list is made up of 13 seniors, nine juniors, nine sophomores, and four freshmen.

The next step in the process will be to select the award’s 16 semifinalists from these 35 quarterbacks. On Monday, Dec. 7, the semifinalists will be named based on voting from the Davey O’Brien National Selection Committee as well as the first round of the Davey O’Brien Fan Vote, which will run through Sunday, Dec. 6.

The Fan Vote is instituting a major change in its format in 2020. This year, fans will vote via three social media platforms—Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook—and the top vote-getter on each platform will each receive the equivalent of two additional committee member ballots for that voting period. Fan voting will be done by liking the quarterback’s photo from the original post on the official Davey O’Brien social media account.

Following the naming of the semifinalists, the next round of fan voting will take place from Monday, Dec. 7 to Sunday, Dec. 20 with the three finalists named on Tuesday, Dec. 22. The final round of fan voting will occur from Tuesday, Dec. 22 until Wednesday, Dec. 30. The winner will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 7 at the 30th annual The Home Depot College Football Awards, which will be held virtually from 7-8:30 p.m. (ET) on ESPN.

The Davey O’Brien Foundation was created in 1977, and the National Quarterback Award, the oldest and most prestigious college quarterback award, was first issued in 1981. Over its time, the Davey O’Brien Foundation has given away more than $1.2 million in scholarships and university grants to help high school and college athletes transform leadership on the field into leadership in life.

In 1938, O’Brien, who was a star quarterback for TCU, became the first player ever to win the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and Walter Camp Award in the same year. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955. For more information, visit www.DaveyOBrien.org.

Davey O’Brien QB Class of 2020  

Connor Bazelak, Missouri, Fr., 6-3, 215, Dayton, Ohio

Ian Book, Notre Dame, Sr., 6-0, 206, El Dorado Hills, Calif.

Shane Buechele, SMU, Sr., 6-1, 207, Arlington, Texas

Matt Corral, Ole Miss, So., 6-1, 205, Ventura, Calif.

Dustin Crum, Kent State, Sr., 6-3, 207, Grafton, Ohio

Malik Cunningham, Louisville, Jr., 6-1, 200, Montgomery, Ala.

Sam Ehlinger, Texas, Sr., 6-3, 225, Austin, Texas

Kaleb Eleby, Western Michigan, So., 6-1, 215, Maryland Heights, Mo.

Justin Fields, Ohio State, Jr., 6-3, 228, Kennesaw, Ga.

Dillon Gabriel, UCF, So., 6-0, 186, Mililani, Hawaii

Frank Harris, UTSA, Jr., 6-0, 200, Schertz, Texas

Sam Howell, North Carolina, So., 6-1, 225, Indian Trail, N.C.

Mac Jones, Alabama, Jr., 6-3, 214, Jacksonville, Fla.

Phil Jurkovec, Boston College, So., 6-5, 226, Pittsburgh, Pa.

D’Eriq King, Miami, Sr., 5-11, 202, Manvel, Texas

Trevor Lawrence, Clemson, Jr., 6-6, 220, Cartersville, Ga.

Levi Lewis, Louisiana, Sr., 5-10, 184, Baton Rouge, La.

Grayson McCall, Coastal Carolina, Fr., 6-3, 200, Indian Trail, N.C.

Kellen Mond, Texas A&M, Sr., 6-3, 217, San Antonio, Texas

Michael Penix Jr., Indiana, So., 6-3, 218, Tampa, Fla.

Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh, Sr., 6-2, 220, Oakhurst, N.J.

Brock Purdy, Iowa State, Jr., 6-1, 212, Gilbert, Ariz.

Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma, Fr., 6-1, 205, Phoenix, Ariz.

Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati, Jr., 6-4, 215, Louisville, Ky.

Tyler Shough, Oregon, So., 6-5, 221, Chandler, Ariz.

Kedon Slovis, USC, So., 6-2, 200, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Zach Smith, Tulsa, Sr., 6-3, 227, Grandview, Texas

Nick Starkel, San Jose State, Sr., 6-3, 214, Argyle, Texas

Carson Strong, Nevada, So., 6-4, 215, Vacaville, Calif.

Zac Thomas, Appalachian State, Sr., 6-1, 210, Trussville, Ala.

Kyle Trask, Florida, Sr., 6-5, 240, Manvel, Texas

Grant Wells, Marshall, Fr., 6-2, 210, Charleston, W.Va.

Brady White, Memphis, Sr., 6-3, 210, Santa Clarita, Calif.

Malik Willis, Liberty, Jr., 6-1, 215, Atlanta, Ga.

Zach Wilson, BYU, Jr., 6-3, 210, Draper, Utah