‘I want to have a full life’: NC State QB Grayson McCall details decision to retire, next steps in football

Shortly after explaining his decision to walk away from football, the sport he has played for nearly two decades, NC State graduate quarterback Grayson McCall stepped back onto the Wolfpack’s indoor practice field to return to the Murphy Center. 

As he turned left out of the glass doors from the Close-King Indoor lobby, McCall saw freshman signal-caller CJ Bailey sitting against the wall, waiting his turn to talk. The veteran quarterback, who spent just over 11 minutes talking about the end of his collegiate career due to head injuries, extended his right hand into Bailey’s to help him off the artificial playing surface. 

In a way, it was the passing of the torch. The three-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year who transferred to NC State with hopes of taking the Pack to new heights was there to guide the former three-star recruit who has been tasked with the reins of the offense with McCall sidelined with a pair of head injuries this fall. 

The latter of which, a gruesome hit against Wake Forest that sent McCall off the field on a stretcher, ended the signal-caller’s playing career. He made it official with a social media post last Wednesday before cementing it with a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

For McCall, it was a tough decision to process. But in the end, it was the only way he could go after suffering what he estimated was his sixth or seventh concussion of his playing career.

“At the end of the day, I want to have a full life,” McCall said. “I want to get married and have kids one day. I want to be a football coach and I want to be a great dad one day. Without a healthy brain, none of those things are possible. I love the game so much, but it’s come down to things bigger than that.”

Decision to retire

Minutes after laying motionless on the Carter-Finley Stadium natural grass surface on the Wolfpack’s first offensive possession against Wake Forest on Oct. 5, McCall found himself in his uniform loaded inside the back of an ambulance for the second time in 12 months. 

He had a similar concussion last season with Coastal Carolina, where a defender was ejected for targeting as the quarterback slid at Arkansas State in late October 2023. That injury ended his season, but this one was a different feeling. 

As McCall opened his eyes en route to WakeMed hospital for further evaluation, he saw his mother, Lisa, next to him. They made eye contact and came to the same conclusion at the same time. 

“That’s it,” the mother and son said to each other. 

After more than 10,000 passing yards to go with 109 total touchdowns and a laundry list of awards on his playing career résumé as one of the best quarterbacks to emerge from the Group of Five level, McCall’s time with a helmet on was over. 

It was something he knew was a possibility after last season’s injury. He did weigh retiring from football after that concussion. But coming to the realization that his time taking snaps on the gridiron was over was a tough pill for McCall to swallow. 

McCall has been through a whirlwind of emotions over the past four weeks. And over the Pack’s bye week, he spent time with family in Indian Trail, N.C., located just outside Charlotte. That’s where he was able to build the strength to make the inevitable a reality with a simple social media post. 

“I had to build the courage to have those conversations and ultimately write something up and make it public,” McCall said, “but I knew that was the reality right after.”

For NC State coach Dave Doeren, who recruited McCall heavily from the transfer portal over the offseason, watching the signal-caller reach the moment of making the announcement official was bittersweet. It’s not the ending either party saw coming when McCall committed to NC State last December, but Doeren was impressed by how he handled one of the toughest moments in the quarterback’s career. 

“It’s a big step to make that announcement to say those words, even though you already know it’s probably happening,” Doeren said. “To say those words out loud and to do it the way that he did, I thought it was really well done.”

As McCall discussed the difficult process of retiring, he reflected back on his college career. For the player who was the No. 2,671 overall recruit in the Class of 2019, McCall has surpassed all expectations. 

The quarterback broke the NCAA FBS record for passing efficiency, held by Alabama’s Mac Jones and LSU’s Joe Burrow, in 2019 with a 207.6 rating, while becoming the first player to win the Sun Belt’s Player of the Year award in three consecutive years. He also found his name on nearly every national award watch list year in and year out as McCall raised his level of play at Coastal Carolina to help put the Chanticleers on the map with an 11-1 2020 campaign. 

And McCall can live with that moving forward.

“The one positive I can take through this thing is I don’t have any regret,” McCall said. “Throughout my whole college career, I’ve laid it on the line every single game, every single play.”

While he would like to have finished his collegiate career on his own terms, the concussion expedited that process. McCall knew that the recovery process would only get harder with each concussion to follow, and he didn’t want to put himself or his family through that again.

“As much as I love this game and everything it’s done for me, I can’t put myself through that again,” McCall said. “I can’t mentally. … It’s just not worth it at the end of the day.”

“… But I think at the end of the day, everything happens for a reason,” McCall later added. “I believe that, even going through this time when that’s hard to believe and see through.”

Next step: coaching

As McCall spoke about his decision to end his playing career, he stood at the lectern in a red NC State football shirt with black shorts and a practice plan tucked into his waistband. While he is still processing not being able to take the field anymore, McCall has began to get a taste of his next chapter in football: coaching. 

McCall still has to fight the urge to pick up a ball and run around the practice field one more time, but he has turned the page to becoming a coach with the Pack. He doesn’t have a specific title on the staff as he’s still in graduate school and listed on NC State’s roster, but McCall has been able to get his feet wet. 

NC State has allowed McCall to sit in on coaches meetings since his injury, serving as another teacher within the Wolfpack’s quarterbacks room. He was already a mentor for Bailey and redshirt freshman signal-caller Lex Thomas, but now that has been taken to another level in his new role. 

For Bailey, who is the only true freshman in college football with a pair of 300-yard passing games this season, McCall has served as the perfect example for him to follow. 

“He’s been a great help and he’s been a great leader,” Bailey said. “I just try to mimic everything he does. I’ve just been watching him, observing. He’s been in my ear helping me out. It’s really big that he’s come to all those games that he’s come to because he’s helped out a lot. He’s always been there for me.”

McCall, who would like to begin a coaching career at the collegiate level, has what it takes to become a “great coach” in Doeren’s eyes. 

But where does that come from?

“He really respects the game,” Doeren said. “When I say respect, I’m not just talking about the game itself, but what goes in behind the game: How hard you have to work and the way a meeting should be, the preparation, the routine you need to have to prepare to win, the way guys should practice around you and how that irritated him when guys weren’t going full speed.”

“There’s just a level of standard of play that coaches look for and that’s where you could see where this guy’s going to be a good coach,” Doeren continued. “He’s one of those guys that you just really pull for. I’m super excited about what’s next for him. He’s going to be elite.”

While McCall has a head start on his coaching career, Bailey appears to be the first student he has taken under his wing. The two talk on the sideline each time the freshman comes off the field, looking at how he can improve on the following series. The conversations are never intense, Bailey said, rather they’re upbeat no matter the situation to keep the first-year starter loose as he speaks with the experienced veteran.

That has led to success as Bailey has thrown for 1,376 yards and 8 touchdowns on an efficient 67.1% completion rate this fall. 

And Bailey believes that his success has come through listening to McCall, who seems to be a natural as a coach.

“I’m a true freshman, but I don’t even want to call myself that anymore because of Grayson,” Bailey said. “I feel like I’ve just been better because of him. I feel like I’ve grown out of my title as a freshman because of him.”