There aren't many players in the nation who had a better season than North Ridgeville junior Demario McCall. The 50th-ranked 2016 player in the country, McCall had a pretty good weekend. First, he was named co-MVP in the Rangers football conference. He finished his junior season with 2842 all-purpose yards — on only 252 total touches, or an astonishing 11.2 yards per touch — and scored 38 touchdowns. According to one of his coaches, McCall also had seven different scores called back due to penalty. Not bad, Demario, not bad at all.
"It feels good to be named MVP of the conference," McCall told Eleven Warriors. "I feel like I deserved it, honestly. It feels good, but I worked my butt off for it and it does feel special."
On Saturday, he made the trip to East Lansing to check out Ohio State and Michigan State; each of whom have already offered the speedster a scholarship. While he admits he grew up a Buckeye fan, McCall said it was easy to separate that lifetime's worth of affection on Saturday night and just immerse himself in the total experience of his college visit.
"(The visit to MSU) was great," he said. "I had a fun time up there. I was cheering for both teams, kind of. It was a great game. In that sort of thing, I'm really just seeing how each team would get me the ball, and how I would do in their offense. Just seeing how I'd fit at each place."
Ray McLaughlin, an assistant coach for the Rangers, says he thinks however his star player gets utilized in college, he'll be a dangerous weapon. He does though, have one spot on the field he thinks he should avoid.
"Where ever he ends up," McLaughlin told 11W. "I hope he's not just put in the slot. It'd be a waste of his vision. This past year he played the one, two, and three wide receiver slot. He ran the wildcat, ran out of the backfield. Getting him in empty sets forces a linebacker or safety to cover him, and running a 4.3? No one can."
McCall said he has one other visit planned this fall, and that's back to Columbus when the Buckeyes take on Michigan November 29th. After that, it's back to work on whatever he has to do to get better on the football field, even if right now he's not entirely sure what that is.
"I don't really know what I need to work on," McCall said laughing. "I don't think right now I have many weaknesses on the football field. I need to talk to my coach and find out what he thinks I need to focus on."
His coach agrees – there's not much to improve on, at least offensively. McCall also plays defensive back.
"Defensively, he could cover a bit more aggressively, and just be more confident," McLaughlin said. "He tends to try and bait quarterbacks a bit, he plays loose and lets guys get behind him. On offense? I would say he really doesn't need to improve in much, maybe a bit more patience to not outrun his blockers."
At 5-foot-11, 170 pounds, the weight room is another area where dynamic McCall might be able to improve. According to his coach, he's taking the reins as a leader inside the locker room.
"Demario is pretty strong now," his coach added. "I know he wants to add more muscle in the off-season, he wants to get up towards around 190-pounds. He said he doesn't plan on running track this year. He's a hard worker in the weight room and so if he says he's going to do it, he will. He even spoke to all the returning guys already about how he wants everyone to work as hard in the off-season with him."
Although he's currently — and completely — predicted to end up in Columbus, the senior-to-be says that right now he's not in a hurry to make a college choice.
"Not really, at all," McCall said when asked if he was close to a decision. "There's still a lot of time."
