By Lonnie Turner
Three consecutive State Championship football rings in his fourth season as quarterback for the Dillon High School Wildcats, and senior Avery McCall has been shunned by the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas Selection Committee! Well, go figure! Probably one of the most versatile players in the history of Dillon High School, yet now he has to sit back to see if the North-South All Star selection committee will even give him a chance to show what he can do with a football down at Myrtle Beach.
McCall, counting six games into his fourth season, third in a row as a starter, has completed 405 of 592 pass attempts (65.4%) for 5,809 yards and 71 touchdowns, yet has been intercepted only five times.If he had played four quarters in each game that he started in his career, there’s no telling how many records he would have set in the state, but the majority of the games in which he played were well over by the third quarter and the officials simply let the scoreboard clock run continuously.
McCall has the uncanny ability to see the entire field in front of him. If head Coach Jackie Hayes calls for a pass and there’s no receiver open, he will tuck the ball in and start to run, but there’s something else that he can do with his experience.
Once he starts to run, he is still aware if a receiver breaks into the clear before he gets to the line of scrimmage, he can connect with him on the run, either running to his to his left or right. Makes no difference.There’s something else this athlete can do! In one game this season, he was being chased by four would-be tacklers for an apparent loss, yet he was able to toss the football with his left hand to one of his running backs who ran for a first down on the play.
McCall, in the early days of his career, was a little hesitant to run the ball, but he has calmed that fear.
He has rushed for nearly 800 yards in his career and has added 18 touchdowns on the ground to his 71 through the air.
Disappointed? This writer would say so. In 50 years behind the microphone at Memorial Stadium, truthfully there hasn’t been a more gifted signal caller. Sure, he’s not perfect, by no means, but he is certainly fun to watch and his numbers speak for themselves!
Mullins is on the horizon next for the Cats over in Auctioneer territory Friday evening and counting that game, there are only four left in the regular season.