Under-the-radar Panthers defender wants to ‘take up space’ to benefit his teammates

A year ago, Marquan McCall was an undrafted rookie fighting for his football life in Panthers training camp. Flash forward to this summer, and McCall — a 6-foot-3, 345-pound nose tackle — is fighting a different battle in the trenches in Spartanburg, S.C. with similarly high stakes.

The heaviest player on the Wofford College campus is working with the first-team defensive line group in Carolina’s new 3-4 front. As the man in the middle of the front — flanked by 2020 first-round pick Derrick Brown and notable free-agent addition Shy Tuttle — McCall’s job is to eat up space and take on multiple blockers to let the rest of the defense impose its will on the opposing offense. McCall, a University of Kentucky alum, wants to make sure Brown, Tuttle, linebacker Shaq Thompson and the rest of his teammates fill up the weekly box score with eye-popping stat lines. If that happens, McCall will have done his job, even as impressive numbers are likely to evade his own resume.

But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Shaq could have 100 tackles this year, and I could have zero,” McCall said. “As long as I know I’m doing my job and stuffing the holes, making sure (offensive players) don’t get between my gaps ... that’s good enough for me.”

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McCall, a Detroit, Michigan, native, was overlooked last offseason as a draft prospect, despite his impressive size and quickness off the line. While he played four seasons at Kentucky, his stat line was pedestrian, as he produced 57 tackles (10.5 for loss) and 1.5 sacks during his college career.

But after the draft, the Panthers pounced, signing the big nose tackle to play in former defensive coordinator Phil Snow’s 4-3 defensive front. Despite his unusual fit in Snow’s defense, McCall was able to make the 53-man roster after a strong summer in Spartanburg.

Still, McCall’s playing time was minimal with the Matt Rhule era crumbling by Week 6 of the defensive tackle’s rookie season. Snow was shown the door along with Rhule, and interim head coach Steve Wilks appointed Al Holcomb as the new defensive coordinator for the final 13 weeks of the season.

McCall played in 16 games during his rookie campaign, but his playing time waned as the interim staff hit its stride, and he was forced to settle for a handful of snaps per game. He played just 17% of the team’s defensive snaps during his first NFL season.

“I was kind of behind a lot of guys last year, just taking mental reps and just being that guy who listens,” McCall said.

Following the arrival of new head coach Frank Reich, the Panthers hired Ejiro Evero as defensive coordinator and switched to a 3-4 front.

McCall, who is built like an old-school nose tackle, was given a new lease on his NFL career in the form of a scheme change that favored his traits.

“He is that traditional nose tackle,” Reich said. “But the thing about him, Marquan, he’s got some explosive twitch in his body. He’s got some quickness, he’s got some explosiveness and can really cause some disruption inside. That’s really what we’re looking for, and we’re looking for it on a consistent basis.”

McCall is a perfect fit in the middle of an odd front. And while he was seemingly set to compete with John Pensini and Bravvion Roy for a starting job this summer, those two players were cut less than a week into camp. Now, McCall — who has been practicing with the first-team group throughout training camp — is in the driver’s seat for the top nose tackle job.

“I’m just blessed to have that position and have the coaches trust me enough to make me a starting nose (tackle) — it’s just a blessing,” McCall said. “I’m grateful.”

McCall is working under new defensive line coach Todd Wash. The nose tackle says Wash is like a father figure to him, and the mammoth defender appreciates the way Wash holds him accountable, especially with consistency being the key to his playing time.

“When (Wash) gets on my ass, I love it,” McCall said.

McCall is also getting help from his fellow defensive linemen. Brown and Tuttle aren’t just co-starters to McCall — they are also his mentors as more experienced players. He’s thrilled to be wedged between the two veterans in the trenches.

“It’s just been an eye-opener because anything can happen, and playing next to (Brown) and Shy — listening to them guys as they teach me the game still — it’s just a blessing to take knowledge from them guys,” McCall said. “They’ve been in the league for four or five years, and for me to be beside them and for them to be trusting me ... what else can you ask for?”

There are also some lessons to be learned from the opposite side of the ball.

McCall says his battles with starting center Bradley Bozeman have served as important opportunities to learn and grow at his position.

“He’s an ox,” McCall said. “He’s strong, he’s very good with his legs, and I get him better, but he gets me way more better being that he’s been in the league so long and just getting me all the right steps and techniques to do what I gotta do.”

McCall, who compares football to therapy, brings a lot of energy to practice. His big smile is hard to ignore on the field, even with a face mask in front of it. And as he continues to climb the depth chart, that smile will be even harder to ignore, especially as he takes on a selfless role that he is proud of.

“I just like that I take up a lot of gap, a lot of space — and that frees up the linebackers, so if I’m doing that and the linebackers go free, I’ll take those double teams for the rest of my life,” McCall said. “If that makes Shaq get a hundred tackles this season, I’m with it. That’s my job, and I’m just here to do my job.”