It’s no secret that North Carolina has been spoiled at the quarterback position since Sam Howell stepped on campus in 2019. Upon his arrival, Howell took the college football world by storm, shattering the program record for passing touchdowns and passing yards in just three seasons. He finished his tenure in Chapel Hill with 10,283 passing yards and 92 touchdowns.
After Howell entered the 2022 NFL Draft, Drake Maye took over for the Tar Heels, only to cement himself among UNC greats as well. Maye started 26 games for his career throwing for 8,018 yards and 63 touchdowns.
From 2019-2023, the signal-calling duo helped the Tar Heels earn an ACC Coastal Division title, reach an ACC Championship Game, and appear in their first major bowl game in 71 years. UNC ranked as high as No. 5 in the country with Howell under center and reached No. 10 with Drake Maye in 2023.
Howell and Maye combined for 1,231 career completions, 18,301 passing yards, 1,331 completions, and 155 passing touchdowns. In addition to providing stability at the quarterback position, they provided elite production, combining for 26 games of 300 or more passing yards.
To better understand how dominant the last five years have been for UNC at the quarterback position, we compared both Howell's and Maye’s tenures to previous Tar Heel signal-callers dating back to Darian Durant near the turn of the century in 2001.
From 2001-2018, 18 different quarterbacks (min. 10 pass attempts) started under center for UNC, ranging from Durant to Nathan Elliott.
While Howell’s record of 92 career passing touchdowns are in a class of its own, since 2021, four quarterbacks, including Maye, have recorded 60 or more.
Marquise Willliams, Bryn Renner, and Durant have the eclipsed 60-touchdown mark, with Renner (64) and Durant (68) surpassing Maye (63). All three started more than two seasons for the Tar Heels and required 100 or more completions than Maye to accomplish the feat, emphasizing his emphatic success in such a short period of time.
In the 18 seasons from 2001-2018, UNC’s best era of quarterback play came from Renner and Williams from 2010-2015. Renner earned the starting nod in 2011 and for the next five seasons, either he or Williams commandeered the Tar Heel offense.
The two combined for 16,186 passing yards, 125 passing touchdowns, 1,293 completions, and 15 games of 300 or more passing yards. Renner’s 10 games of 300+ passing yards rank third in program history behind Howell and Maye.
Renner and Williams’ 1,293 completions rank second behind Howell and Maye, who combined for 1,331 in their career.
In 2016, Mitch Trubisky took over following Williams’ departure, throwing for 4,762 yards and 41 touchdowns in one season as a starter.
While the trio combined for more passing yards and touchdowns than Howell and Maye, their 21 games of 300 or more passing yards across seven seasons are five fewer than the duo (26).
From 2007, when freshman T.J. Yates took over under center, to 2018, 10 quarterbacks started a game for the Tar Heels. Those 10 quarterbacks combined for 30 games of 300 or more passing yards across 11 seasons and 165 contests.
Maye and Howell reached 26 games of the same feat in 100 less games (65).
Throwing for 155 touchdowns across five seasons makes the duo the most successful in UNC history. The seven quarterbacks from 2010-2018 combined for 198 passing touchdowns and the second-highest duo in that span of Renner and Williams combined for 125 in six seasons as starters.
Howell threw for 38 touchdowns as a true freshman in 2019 and Maye tallied 38 as a redshirt freshman in 2022 to tie the single-season program record.
The duo has combined for over 30 school records and has cemented themselves as the best in UNC history.
As UNC enters a fall-camp battle for the starting quarterback spot against Minnesota on Aug. 29, Maye’s successor has big shoes to fill. Coming off of the most successful stretch of quarterback play in program history, the Tar Heels will look to produce their third-straight NFL Draft pick at the position and the 10th in school history.
