CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown said at the ACC Kickoff two weeks ago one of the major missions in fall camp was to determine who will be the primary backup to starting quarterback and Heisman Trophy contender Sam Howell.
If Howell can’t go at some point in a game, who would Phil Longo and Brown put on the field? That question still doesn’t have an answer, but that’s what fall camp is for, and it is a serious battle between a pair of gifted athletes, each of whom could eventually be plenty capable of manning the Carolina offense.
Jacolby Criswell is a 6-foot-, 220-pound sophomore from Morrilton, AR, who got a little bit of action last fall, playing 44 snaps and completing three of his four pass attempts for 19 yards and an interception. Drake Maye is the ballyhooed true freshman who flipped from Alabama to the Tar Heels and enrolled in January.
In the spring, Brown said he didn’t want Criswell and Maye to compete with each other, he just wanted them to focus on improving. The competition stuff would come later. That time has arrived, and three practices into fall camp, Longo, UNC’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, is pleased with where both players are at this stage.
“He’s super intelligent,” Longo said about Maye, who is 6-foot-5, 220 pounds and is the younger brother of former UNC basketball player Luke Maye and the son of former Carolina quarterback Mark Maye. “The top three quarterbacks in our room right now – Sam is doing all the progressive things as you would expect the starter to do, Jacolby looks like a guy that’s gone through a whole season and he can make any throw on the field, and mentally he’s in a much better place right now than he was a year ago. Drake is kind of where Jacolby was.
“This is his first year with the system, he’s learning it. But here now in camp, even just in these first three practices, both Jacolby and Drake are doing things mentally that are far beyond where they were in the spring, which tells me they got a lot of good reps and they did a lot of the right mental things to learn the PLPs. Because they wouldn’t be making some of the decisions or doing some of the things right now had they not made some of those advancements in the summertime.
“So, I’ve been really pleased so far. And you know me, I’m always on the positive half of everything anyway. But if I’m being really transparent about it, the three guys are in a really good place at this point.”
So, is there a timeline for when a decision will be made on QB2? The opener is less than a month away Sept. 3 at Virginia Tech, and only 19 practices remain before the Tar Heels enter full game-week mode.
But Longo isn’t in any rush. He has been through this many times before, including two years ago with respect to the battle for the starting job.
“I’d say the same thing I did the first year when we had three freshmen, including Sam, vying for this starting job, and that’s we have enough reps for three quarterbacks right now. They’re going to decide that, I don’t really have to decide that.
“Obviously, the boss is going to sign off on it, but we’re going to sit back and let them go play (and) they will decide that based on their production and their consistency. And I would say that big plays are not as important as the consistency.
“The consistency, the every-down focus and the every-down consistent execution will separate one from the other, and hopefully they bring the big plays with them. We want them to be able to manage the offense, distribute the football the same way Sam does from a developmental standpoint. Whether or not they’re going to be as good as Sam remains to be seen.”
UNC will be in shells for practice Sunday and Monday and finally in full pads with full contact Tuesday. The Heels will scrimmage at some point later in the week, and at that time the staff could gain the kind of intel needed to close in on making a decision between Criswell and Maye.
