Chadwell has an all-world QB for his offense right now. He’s 8-16 without Grayson McCall at Coastal. Way too big of a gamble unless we want to wait a year and see how he does with a different QB.
Grayson McCall was a 2-star recruit and the #66 dual threat QB in his class. His only other offers besides Coastal were Army, UT-Chattanooga, Gardner Webb, Eastern Kentucky, and App State. I definitely would not classify him as an “all-world” QB, he’s definitely benefitted from being in Chadwell’s system.
In Chawell’s first year of his current stint in 2019 they rotated between Fred Payton who is currently at FCS Mercer, and Bryce Carpenter who was another 2-star recruit and the #98 Pro-style QB in his class. I think we can definitely find some guys to play QB who are better than that. We have 4 different QBs on our roster who were rated higher than McCall, and Yates was also higher. I know recruiting rankings aren’t everything when it comes to player’s development and skill ceiling, but it’s a good measuring stick. No reason he couldn’t find somebody else to play QB just as good as McCall.
The biggest difference between Chadwell’s 2019 5-7 record and his 25-4 record since has been the defense. In 2019 they allowed 30.5PPG (88th in the country) and finished rated 114th in DFEI.
In 2020 they only allowed 20.2PPG (19th in the country) and finished 16th in DFEI
In 2021 they allowed 21.6PPG (25th in the country) and were 5th in DFEI
They’ve taken a step back on the defensive side of the ball from last year, but that’s mostly because they lost 8 starters and another handful of guys from their 2 deep from last year.
I really don’t think who’s playing QB for Coastal should make any difference in whether or not we hire him.