CHAPEL HILL – If Mack Brown could have his way, he’d prefer inserting a backup quarterback into games for a few snaps on the third offensive series just to give him a taste and the starter a different view.

Football players get injured, quarterbacks get injured, and in the era of COVID-19 tests, they could test positive and miss a game or more. So, the mission for 2020 is to always have as many players ready to act when called on.

Except, Brown has always preferred playing a second quarterback behind his starter. And there’s a reason why.

“We’ve got to get a (backup) quarterback ready to go,” Brown said early in fall camp. “We were really lucky last year that even with the amount of sacks we had early, that Sam’s (Howell) so tough he stayed healthy. But we’re trying to figure out how we can play two quarterbacks some.

“I always like for the quarterback to be able to come out and see what’s going on and stand for three plays as somebody else goes in. And you’ve always got to have a backup ready, and we weren’t able to do that last year.”

Once Jace Ruder went down with a season-ending injury in the fourth game last season, Howell was the only scholarship quarterback the Heels had available the rest of the way. Now there are four in the QB room, three of whom were 4-star prospects in high school and the other was a 3-star player who also was named the North Carolina Male Athlete of the Year. But Jefferson Boaz isn't in the running right not to serve as Howell's primary backup.

Ruder entered fall camp the presumed front-runner for the spot, but he’s battling true freshman Jacolby Criswell. And with less than two weeks before the season opener at home versus Syracuse, neither has distinguished himself from the other.

“What we would do today, number one they haven’t separated from the last time we talked,” Brown said, referring to last week’s virtual press conference when he was asked about the backups. “We’d hoped they would.”

A third-year sophomore, Ruder has played in three games as a Tar Heel for a total of 32 snaps. He broke a bone in his shoulder two plays before throwing a touchdown pass against Georgia Tech as a true freshman forcing him to miss the rest of the 2018 season, and then last season broke his leg after one snap against Appalachian State. He played seven plays at Wake Forest the week before.

In his limited time, the 6-foot-2, 225-pound native of Norton, KS, has completed 5 of 7 pass attempts for 87 yards and a TD while running the ball six times for 42 yards. Ruder's injury was more complicated than it initially appeared and he ended up having surgeyin February and wasn’t cleared to play until early June, so he’s been working to catch up.

Criswell, a 6-foot, 225-pounder who hails from Morrilton, AR, was a 4-star prospect in his school and enrolled in January. But, like everyone else, he missed spring practice but has made considerable progress in the preseason.

Both players have significant upsides, but may not quite be ready just yet.

“Right now, (offensive coordinator) Phil (Longo) would have a package for both of them that would lend toward their abilities more than not, and it would probably be different than Sam’s,” Brown said. “And then we would just play the one that we feel like is the most ready to play in the Syracuse game. But right now, neither one of them would be ready to go in and step in the third series like we would like.”

While neither player is ready just yet, at least the staff knows they have multiple talented players behind Howell. If nothing else, that’s a significant positive as the season nears.