Don’t begin the Heisman Trophy campaign for Sam Howell just yet. At least that’s not how North Carolina is approaching the coming season, its star player and perhaps the most prestigious individual award in American sports.

Only two quarterbacks in the nation passed for 3,000-plus yards, 35 or more touchdowns and seven or fewer interceptions last season. Joe Burrow won the award, led LSU to the national championship and is the likely top pick in the NFL draft later this month. The other player is Howell.

So naturally, given his numbers, that he was just a true freshman and the Tar Heels are the probable favorites to win the ACC’s Coastal Division and contend for double-figure victories, he will be on every early season Heisman watch list.

But UNC isn’t going to send out bobbleheads, reusable lunch bags, binoculars, trading card sets, player-named microwave popcorn, caps, shirts, mouse pads, pens, erasers or notepads, if you really want to go back in time, promoting Howell’s candidacy. The program will let it happen more organically.

“The philosophy's always been to undersell and let the players kind of handle their business. So we do things like (interviews),” said Jeremy Sharpe, UNC’s Director of Football Communications and Branding. “We'll keep people informed both locally and around the country of the accolades that a particular player is reaching.

“We find that universities and institutions pushing a narrative about a player tend to set that player up to have to meet a certain expectation and oftentimes can be detrimental. We allow a season to play out and utilize the facts of what's occurring to determine it.”

Howell completed 259 of 422 pass attempts last fall for 3,641 yards, 38 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. Of Howell’s completions, 150 went for 10 or more yards, 33 of his 38 touchdown passes went for 20 or more yards, 14 went for 30 or more, 10 for 40-plus, five for 50 or more and three went for 60-plus yards. The average distance of his TD passes was 26.5 yards. He ranked third in the nation in throwing passes 20 or more yards downfield.

And, he had the highest passing rating in the nation in the fourth quarter at 92.8, which included him leading UNC to comeback wins in its first two games.

He’s certainly a worthy candidate, and it would be nice to win the award, Howell isn’t consumed by it.

“When it comes to me, I mean it's always been a goal of mine to win a Heisman Trophy, but really I'm just worried about my team,” Howell said. “And I know that if I do what I'm supposed to do, my team has a really good season, but really I'm just trying to go out there and give my team everything I can, make sure we're winning games.

“I think, in my opinion, it's selfish for me to just go into the season with one goal to win a Heisman Trophy, so I'm just focused on trying to make sure I'm doing everything I can help my help team win games.”

UNC went 7-6 a season ago, winning its final three games by an average score of 51-10. The Tar Heels return 10 starters on offense and most of their defense and will have much more depth going into this coming season.

Carolina also faces a schedule that could generate some early momentum for Howell.

The Heels open the season at Central Florida, which has gone 35-4 over the last three seasons and finishing each year in the national rankings, including two top-10 spots. The game will air nationally on ESPN and kicks on a Friday night.

A week later, UNC takes on Auburn in Atlanta in another nationally televised affair. And if Howell puts up huge numbers again, the campaign will take care of itself.

“It's my job to let him go play and then if he plays like he did last year with the numbers that he put up and we win a bunch of ball games, I'll be in contact with everybody around the country and our program will do that and support our guys for any awards that they may be candidates for…,” Sharpe said.

“We're not big on the overall campaigns that you may have seen around the country. We kind of use more of a grassroots approach and allow folks in the media or voters to be the ones talking about the players and we provide the information necessary.”

UNC has never had a Heisman winner, though Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice was the only two-time runner-up (1948, 1949) until Arkansas’ Darren McFadden in 2006 and 2007. Three other Tar Heels have placed in the top-10 of the voting.

Is Howell next? Whatever becomes of Howell’s candidacy kicks off on Sept. 4.

*Here is a list of UNC players that placed among the top-10 in Heisman voting.

1948 – Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice finished second

1949 – Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice finished second

1970 – Don McCauley finished ninth

1976 – Mike Voight finished eighth

2001 – Julius Peppers finished tenth