*Video of Brown's Friday presser posted at the bottom of this piece.

CHAPEL HILL – Mack Brown knows who will take the first offensive snap when North Carolina plays at Minnesota on Thursday night, but few others also know.

Brown met with the media Friday afternoon at the Kenan Football Center for his pre-Minnesota press conference, and quarterback was one of the main topics of discussion. UNC announced last week it would not release a depth chart prior to the game because Golden Gophers Coach P.J. Fleck won’t release one.

So, when UNC was originally going to reveal last weekend who won the quarterback competition between Max Johnson and Conner Harrell, that idea was scrapped when Fleck chose to not release any information about his team.

Brown, however, knows who will go first.

“I’ve got what I think will happen,” he said near the tail end of his 61-minute presser. “Again, you’re five days away. As soon as I say, yes or tell the staff or tell the team then one of them sprains an ankle tomorrow it all changes. So, yeah.”

Harrell, who is listed at 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, is now a redshirt sophomore in his third season at UNC. Sitting behind Drake Maye, he played little last season, but did start the Tar Heels’ bowl loss to West Virginia. He was 18-for-27 with a touchdown and two interceptions that day. And for the season, was 22-for-30 with 270 yards, two scores and two picks.

Johnson, who is 6-foot-5 and throws lefthanded, owns a decided edge in experience, having attempted 788 passes, while Harrell has thrown it only 33 times. Johnson has played 1,624 snaps while Harrell has logged just 93 snaps. And Johnson has 47 touchdowns with 12 interceptions with Harrell posting two and two, respectively.

UNC defeated Minnesota, 31-13, in Chapel Hill last season. The opener for both teams kicks off Thursday night at 8 PM EST and the game will air on FOX.

Here is everything Brown had to say about the quarterback situation:

As part of his opening statement:

BROWN: “We're planning on playing both quarterbacks, depending on how the game dictates. I mean, one of the problems we had last year is Conner came in the West Virginia game without any experience, because Drake (Maye) didn't play in the bowl game. So part of developing depth, we want to have two quarterbacks ready to play, and that's important to us. Very few people do that. That's something that we have not done a very good job of.”

A moment later, he added:

BROWN: “So, depending on how the game goes, we would like to play two quarterbacks, and we'd like to do it for the season, and the offensive staff has done a really good job. Conner and Max are different. They're the same in some ways, but they're different in others, and the offensive staff has done a really good job of blending the line with what both of them do best.

“So, I feel really good going into the game about the plan for both of those because they've tailored it to where the quarterback that's in the game will have things that he can do best without question. But I do see scenarios where both play.”

Brown was asked for clarification of his comments about playing two QBs.

BROWN: “So, what I'm saying is that we will have both quarterbacks ready, and we would play them based on how the game would dictate. When you go into the game, there'll be some that will hear this and say, 'he said he's gonna play two quarterbacks. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life.' There will be some that say, 'I can't believe they don't have a quarterback.' And there'll be some that say, 'oh gosh, maybe we got two quarterbacks.'

“And really and truly, they're both good. They're both good enough to win. But we've got to figure out what during the game works the best to win the game, and that's it. And that's what we'll tell the players.”

Another question about possible usage of both players:

BROWN: “We do feel like that we can play either one of these guys and win. We've got to figure out what they're doing. We've got to figure out how we're handling it during the game, and which one, which system within our system that one of them would run would be the one to give us the best chance to win. And not to be a smart aleck, but we feel like both of them are good enough to win. We don't know Max, I mean, we haven't seen him in a game.

“We've seen video of Conner, we know and Conner's got to keep coming, and we know that, but Conner's had some great plays, and so that's what we'll do. We'll be like you all, we'll be sitting there watching a game and say, 'this is working, we'll let it go. This isn't working, let's change it up, let's try something else.' And I do feel like this team, we need to win Thursday.”

He was asked if he is trying to confuse Minnesota by making them prepare for both quarterbacks?

BROWN: "Yeah, but it's facts. I mean, we don't know how either quarterback's going to play, so if one of them is in the game and not playing well, we're going to play the other, one period. I mean, if it was Drake, we wouldn't be sitting here saying this, but we just don't know how they're going to play…

“So, we're going to watch the game and try to put them in the best positions, and then if it's not working for one, you go with another to try to win the game. … I would like to play both based on how the season goes. If one of them looks like Drake Maye on Thursday night and he's winning all the games, then we're going to play one quarterback. So, what you do is you figure out what gives you the best chance to win the game."