During his press conference Monday ahead of Saturday’s game at Clemson, NC State head coach Dave Doeren said injured starting quarterback Grayson McCall is “day-to-day” and that true freshman CJ Bailey will start at quarterback for the Wolfpack against the Tigers.
On his radio show Monday night, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney spoke about McCall and his injury status.
The graduate transfer suffered an undisclosed injury in the second quarter of NC State’s eventual 30-20 win over Louisiana Tech this past Saturday, and was ruled out for the remainder of the contest.
“Who knows? I don’t know if McCall is going to be available if needed, or actually what the situation there is,” Swinney said Monday night. “But we’ve got to get ready for what they do. I don’t think they’ll really change who they are and what they do.”
McCall spent the last five years at Coastal Carolina before transferring to NC State this past January. He was regarded as one of the best quarterbacks in the transfer portal.
Swinney was asked if the Tigers will still prepare for McCall, just in case he is available on Saturday.
“Absolutely,” Swinney said. “He’s a very, very good football player. He’s a three-time Sun Belt Player of the Year. He’s got a ton of experience, and I would say if they say he’s day-to-day, then I’d say he’s day-to-day and anything can happen. They’ve got to probably get a guy ready to play and go in with the plan that hey, this is going to be the starter.
“We had that situation in the Georgia game. We had a couple guys that if we could hold them, we were. (Offensive lineman) Marcus Tate also, in the App game. He was ready to play, but if we could hold him, we were going to. So I don’t really know, but I think, again, they’re not going to change what they do.”
Prior to being replaced by Bailey in the Louisiana Tech game, McCall completed 9-of-13 passes for 54 yards to go with four carries for 22 yards.
Bailey, a former four-star prospect, finished 13-of-20 passing for 156 yards with an interception. He scored a rushing touchdown and had 27 yards rushing on four carries.
“He got better and better as the game went,” Swinney said of Bailey. “You can tell that the players really believe in him. It seemed like he really just settled in and showed a lot of poise, but just got better and better and better. He ended up making some nice throws, made some nice plays with his legs, extended a few plays. You can tell he’s a tough kid as well. Not afraid to pull it down and run it.”
Saturday’s contest between No. 21 Clemson (1-1) and NC State (2-1) at Death Valley is set to kick off at noon and will be televised on ABC.
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