6/14/2017 football Edit

3-Star QB High On Heckendorf

3-Star quarterback Trad Beatty had a terrific camp experience at UNC on Tuesday working with coach Keith Heckendorf. (THI)

Andrew Jones • TarHeelIllustrated

Publisher

Andrew Jones has covered sports for 26 years, including all major college & professional sports for daily newspapers & national sites. He's done radio and TV & is entering his seventh year at THI.

Trad Beatty has a lot of scholarship offers. He even has three from Ivy League schools.

Power 5 schools and many dotting Division One have also extended the 3-star, 6-4, 210-pound quarterback from Chapin (SC) H.S who was on hand Tuesday at North Carolina’s fourth day camp session of the summer.

Beatty was easy to spot as the top quarterback at the session. Long and left handed, he was quite accurate in his throws and carried himself as if he’s already in college. It was a positive experience.

“I enjoyed the energy at camp,” he told THI. “The way everything was organized and ran. Also liked the individual coaching from (quarterbacks) Coach Heck (Keith Heckendorf) and Coach (Larry) Fedora. Got a lot of reps also.”

What did Beatty like about Heck’s way of coaching and teaching?

“I think Coach Heck is the best in the business,” Beatty replied. “He teaches very well. I like his approach to coaching. He analyzes, critiques, and continues to push the player. He's the type of coach a QB wants to play for.”

Also on hand doing pitching in a helping hand is current UNC sophomore quarterback Nathan Elliott, who saw action in several games last fall. That and the other current Heels out there helping was also an added positive for Beatty.

“It was cool to also have current players come out and teach how things are done the Tar Heel way,” he said. “It speaks a lot of the coaches and the program that the players took time out of their day to come and work the camp.”

Beatty had a nice chat with Heckendorf after camp but didn’t go into details what was discussed. He did offer they would talk again soon, so it obviously went pretty well.

This was Beatty’e second trip to Chapel Hill, the first being Junior Day. Heckendorf paid him a visit in the spring and Beatty says the relationship has grown since then.

Mississippi State and Temple are among Beatty’s other offers, as UNC hasn’t offered yet. But if the Tar Heels were to extend, where would they be in the process?

“If it were to happen, UNC would be a contender,” Beatty replied.

Beatty won’t be at the Freak Show on Saturday night, he’s visiting Temple this weekend.