Three high profile quarterbacks from Palmetto State institutions have their names on the list of candidates for a national award.
Spencer Rattler, DJ Uiagalelei and Grayson McCall are on the preseason watch list for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.
The award, named after the Hall of Fame quarterback and acknowledges performance on the field while placing equal value on character, citizenship, integrity and those who honor the game.
Rattler enrolled at Carolina prior to the spring semester following three seasons at Oklahoma where he played in 23 games and posted a 15-2 record as a starter. The Phoenix native threw for 4,595 yards with 40 touchdowns during his time in Norman. Rattler also threw at least one touchdown pass in 16 of his 17 collegiate starts with the Sooners.
Uiagalelei enters his junior season at Clemson after taking over as the starter. In 2021, he threw for 2,246 yards with nine touchdowns in his 13 starts, finishing the season as one of only four offensive or defensive players to start every game for Clemson. Uiagalelei’s A862 snaps were the most in a season by a Clemson quarterback since 2017 (Kelly Bryant, 886).
The two-time Sun Belt Player of the Year, McCall is coming off a season where he set a NCAA Division I FBS record in passing efficiency rating at 207.6 last season in 2021, the previous two records set by Alabama’s Mac Jones (203.1) in 2020 and LSU’s Joe Burrow (202.0) in 2019. He enters the 2022 season as the active career leader in all of NCAA Division I FBS in career passing efficiency at 196.09.eclipsingThe 2021 Blanchard-Rogers Trophy Winner, an award given out to the best player in the Palmetto State by the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame, McCall has gone 20-2 over the last two years as Coastal’s starting quarterback, McCall is also a two-time All-Sun Belt first-team selection and a two-time semifinalist for both the Maxwell Award and the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award (2020 and 2021). He was also a top-10 finalist for the 2021 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award last season after being named a finalist for the Manning Award in 2020.