Cal Sports Report

Coastal Carolina OL Transfer Will McDonald Commits to Cal

McDonald was a third-team All-Sun Belt selection as a redshirt senior offensive lineman in 2023
Jake Curtis|
Will McDonald celebrates after a field goal. Louisiana Ragin Cajuns take on Coastal Carolina at
Will McDonald celebrates after a field goal. Louisiana Ragin Cajuns take on Coastal Carolina at | SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network via Imagn

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California Golden Bears

Coastal Carolina graduate transfer offensive lineman Will McDonald, who was a third-team all-conference selection in 2023, announced on social media on Sunday that he has committed to Cal for the 2024 season.

Cal offensive coordinator Mike Bloesch is also the Bears offensive line coach and he has always stressed the importance of offensive line play for the success of the offense.  The addition of McDonald gives Bloesch another piece to work with as he designs a Cal offense that is expected to rely heavily on the running game,

The 6-foot-2, 295-pound McDonald started 13 games at left guard for Coastal Carolina as a redshirt senior in 2023.  He was named to the third-team, All-Sun Belt Conference squad last season.  Coastal Carolina ranked seventh in the Sun Belt in both rushing offense and passing offense in 2023, but it was first in sacks allowed, giving up only 17 sacks the entire season.

McDonald also started all 13 games in 2022 as a redshirt junior.   He played in 13 games off the bench in 2021, and he played in 10 games in 2020, when Coastal Carolina finished 11-1 and ranked No. 12 in the country.

McDonald recorded 83 pancake blocks his collegiate career and allowed only 1.5 sacks in his four seasons at Coastal Carolina.

McDonald played his high school football at Porter Ridge High School in Indian Trail, North Carolina.

“We have a ton of good players, a young team. I’m hoping to bring some experience to the room and help the team try and win an ACC championship,” McDonald told Bear Insider. “Coach [Justin] Wilcox and Coach Bloesch are obviously great coaches, but I think they’re also good people and care a lot about the players. That was huge for me. It’ll be exciting to play in the ACC and play a lot of the teams I grew up watching every Saturday.”

McDonald will compete for playing time on Cal's offensive line. Coming out of spring the Bears' starting offensive line consisted of tackle Nick Morrow, guard Sioape Vatikani, center Matthew Wycoff, guard Bastian Swinney and tackle T.J. Session.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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