NC State Beat Writer Answers 5 Questions

Cal's opponent on Saturday has dealt with significant health issues at quarterback

NC State quarterback Grayson McCall gets tackled without his helmet / Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images

The North Carolina State quarterback Cal anticipated seeing when the season began won't be dressed for Saturday afternoon's Atlantic Coast Conference matchup at Memorial Stadium.

Grayson McCall, who passed for more than 10,000 yards at Coastal Carolina - where his longtime friend Cal center Will McDonald snapped him the ball - is out indefinitely following his second concussion of the season.

We discussed McCall's status among 5 Questions we posed to Jadyn Watson-Fisher, NC State beat writer for the Raleigh News-Observer.

Watson-Fisher says she thinks the Wolfpack misses McCall's energy but that freshman CJ Bailey has done a decent job as his placement. As for McCall?

“Based on the concussion he had last October when he was at Coastal, he didn’t come back. And he’s had two this year now," noting that his helmet had flown off before contact with a Wake Forest defender during the most collision," she says in the video above. "I would be very surprised to see him on the field again.”

Bailey had a big game statistically in the loss to Syracuse — a season-best 329 passing yards and two touchdowns. What does he do well, where has he shown his inexperience and how would evaluate his play overall?

“CJ’s really good in terms of his confidence. He’s not afraid to take big shots and he’s not afraid to run some of the quote-unquote riskier plays," Watson-Fisher says. "I think it’s paid off. He made a couple great passes against Syracuse that you might not expect from a true freshman. He just looked really comfortable.”

Still, he has four interceptions, including a couple at critical moments in games, and his reads of the defense aren't always correct.

"I think he’s got a ton of promise. But he’s got to clean up some of those interceptions because he can’t keep giving away field position and momentum like that."

The Wolfpack was picked fourth in the ACC and is coming off four consecutive seasons of at least eight victories. But they are 0-3 and tied with Cal and UNC for last in the ACC. Besides the obvious setback at quarterback, what have their primary issues been?

“Just consistency in every phase. They have not been able to play with toughness or meet the standard they set for themselves in every game.

“They have talent and they’ve shown they can do great things but they haven’t done it all time.”

NC State allowed 51 points to Tennessee in Week 2 and 59 to Clemson two weeks later. How much did do you think those lopsided outcomes affected the Wolfpack’s confidence on defense going forward?

“I think they were just upset with themselves because (defensive coordinator) Tony Gibson has set such a high standard of finishing in the top-25 defensively for the last three years. I think they were just disappointed in themselves and I don’t know that they don’t believe they can do it as much as maybe those outcomes have just gotten to them.  Maybe it is confidence.”

Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza has fairly well but was sacked six times by Pitt and the Bears already have allowed 24 sacks through six games. Sacking the quarterback doesn’t appear to be strength for NC State so far this season, but will they expect to do better this week?

“Honestly, I don’t think they’re bad in the pass rush. Obviously, they don’t have a ton of sacks but they have been able to put pressure on QBs. You saw that against Syracuse — they nine QB hurries. Even if they’re not going down in sacks, there are guys who are not afraid to burst past the line of scrimmage and wreak a little havoc in the backfield.”