UCLA Football Preview: Can the Bruins Stop Grayson McCall?
UCLA Football Preview: Can the Bruins Stop Grayson McCall?
The Coastal Carolina quarterback has been the Sun Belt Player of the Year in each of the past three seasons.
As I discussed yesterday, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers come to the Rose Bowl on Saturday a different team than you may have seen if you’ve watched them play over the past three seasons. Head coach Jamey Chadwell left the school to become the head coach at Liberty University and Coastal Carolina brought in Tim Beck from NC State as his replacement. Beck, in turn, brought in an almost entirely new coaching staff.
So, it’s not a surprise that the Chanticleer offense will change from the spread option to the enigma that is a “multiple” offense. Sometimes, I think coaches say that just to confuse people.
Regardless of what anybody calls the CCU offense, the bottom line is that a defense will need to stop quarterback Grayson McCall in order to beat the Chants.
Quarterback
For the past three years, Chanticleer quarterback Grayson McCall has been the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year. You don’t earn an award like that without having a pretty talented supporting cast surrounding you.
You may remember that, when the South Alabama Jaguars visited the Rose Bowl last season, the Bruins needed to mount a late comeback in order to win. Well, don’t expect this week’s season opener to be a cakewalk either. The Bruin defense, which is now on its third defensive coordinator in three seasons, will need to be ready and, most likely, need to be in midseason form on Saturday in order to prevent an upset.
Over his last three seasons as the starter, McCall has completed over 70 percent of his pass attempts for 8,061 yards, 77 touchdowns, and just eight interceptions. Think about that for a moment. McCall has thrown nearly ten touchdowns for each interception he’s thrown — and he’s does a very good job getting the ball to his receivers. As if that’s not enough, he has also rushed for 1,054 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground and he has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 32 of the 35 games he’s played at the college level including each of his last 23 games. He’s also thrown for two or more touchdowns in 11 of his last 15 games and a total of 25 different games over the course of his career. This guy definitely has the NFL in his future.
Last season, McCall threw just two interceptions while throwing for 24 touchdowns. His touchdown-to-interception ratio was better than that of Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams. In fact, it was second-best across the FBS. Only Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker had a better touchdown-to interception ratio.
In addition to the return of McCall, the Coastal Carolina offense returns its top four running backs and top four receivers from last season.
Running Backs
Last season, the Chanticleers employed a running backs by committee approach and it seems like they plan on doing the same thing again this year.
Interestingly, the team’s depth chart actually lists two starting running backs. At the same time, if you look at last year’s statistics and assumed who the starters would be, you might be surprised to see that last year’s top rusher, CJ Beasley, who ran for 6 touchdowns and 717 yards on 141 carries, isn’t listed as the starter. Instead, Reese White is listed in front of Beasley. White ran for 544 yards on 99 carries in 10 games last season. Like Beasley, White also scored five times. To be fair to White, though, Beasley was called upon last year after injuries took a toll on the team’s running back room.
In the other running back spot, the starter will be Braydon Bennett, despite the fact that Bennett only played in four games last season in which he carried 16 times for 83 yards and a touchdown. Max Balthazar will be his replacement when needed. Balthazar saw action in eight games last year and he carried the ball 27 times for 141 yards. He had one rushing touchdown as well.
If the Chants do, in fact, employ a two-back system most of the time, it will be a bit of a surprise because very few teams are using two backs all the time. Now, of course, it could be that the new offensive system may look to use one of them as a slot back as another target for McCall. Last season, Beasley caught 19 balls out of the backfield for 193 yards and a touchdown. So, there is some versatility there from the Coastal Carolina backs.
Receivers and Tight Ends
In addition to Beasley, the other top pass catchers from last season are the guys who will start as the wide receivers. Redshirt senior Sam Pinckney led the team with 71 catches for 996 yards and three touchdowns. Pinckney was named to the Biletnikoff Award preseason watch list as a result.
While Pinckney had the most catches and the most yards, the other two starting receivers were McCall’s favorite scoring targets. Redshirt sophomore Jared Brown had six receptions for touchdowns to go with 789 yards on 49 catches. That ties him with McCall for most touchdowns on the team, though McCall’s all came on the ground. Meanwhile, junior Tyson Mobley managed to get into the end zone on five of his 40 receptions. Mobley totaled 490 receiving yards last season.
Now, tight end is a position in transition for CCU. Jacob Jenkins, who also scored five touchdowns last year, opted to transfer to Liberty and followed Jamey Chadwell there. The new coaching staff has brought in a few transfers as replacements and one name should be familiar to Bruin fans. That would be Matt Alaimo. Alaimo redshirted for the Bruins back in 2018 and, then, opted to transfer to Rutgers for 2019. Having graduated from Rutgers with a bachelor’s degree in communications, Alaimo is playing for the Chanticleers as a super senior. Whether he sees any action for CCU this Saturday remains to be seen, because he is not listed on the team’s two-deep depth chart.
Instead, redshirt Login Mauldin, who played in three games last year and caught just one pass for nine yards, looks like the starter with redshirt senior Deon Fountain listed as the backup. Fountain also made one catch last season, but he made the most of it as he rambled for a 32-yard gain.
Offensive Line
Of course, McCall can’t do what he does without some beef upfront, and Coastal Carolina has some. In fact, the Chants have 11 offensive lineman that weigh 300 pounds or more and they have 10 guys who are at least 6-4 or taller.
Three of the five starting lineman are redshirt seniors. That includes right guard Dillon Luther, left tackle Donnell Wilson and right tackle Zovon Lindsey, though redshirt junior Willie Moise may actually get the start there.
Redshirt junior Will McDonald will start at right guard and redshirt sophomore Thomas Johnson will be the center.
Outlook
If the Bruins want to win, the defense will need to find a way to stop Grayson McCall. It’s that simple. Given the fact that CCU has experience on the offensive line, getting to McCall might be tough.
That means the pressure to stop the Chants’ offense likely will fall on the Bruin secondary. Can those guys breakup enough passes and make enough tackles to keep Coastal Carolina from lighting up the scoreboard? That remains to be seen, but this game will be a quick test for D’Anton Lynn and the UCLA defenders.
In fact, the outcome of the game may rely upon whether they can pass this test.
Go Bruins!!!
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