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Former North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell was drafted as the top pick in the fifth round Saturday by the Washington Commanders.
Howell becomes the ninth quarterback in school history to be selected in the draft. He leaves North Carolina among the most celebrated football players in the program's history. He is the owner of several UNC records, including touchdown passes in a career (92), single-season touchdown passes (38), and most passing yards in a career (10,283).
Howell entered his junior season as one of the leading candidates for the Heisman Trophy and was a projected first round draft pick. But the Tar Heels struggled to a 6-7 record and Howell's numbers dipped from his sophomore season, dropping his stock some.
Even with that, UNC offensive coordinator Phil Longo believes Howell has all the mental and physical tools necessary to be a franchise quarterback.
"He will be successful at the next level because of preparation," said Longo. "Because of elite arm talent, he is incredibly accurate. He can get the ball out quick, which I think is a huge asset at that level."
Howell was a projected future draft pick since his explosion onto the college football scene in 2019. Then as a freshman, Howell threw 38 touchdowns to only seven interceptions. Knowing he had a future NFL player on his roster Longo has asked some prominent names for advice on best preparing Howell for the next level.
"I've got some really good feedback from Drew Brees after having met him at the Notre Dame game," Longo said. "And the reason he and I struck up some good conversations is I've often said I thought Sam from a skillset standpoint is very, very similar to Drew Brees. More than anybody else from a talent standpoint and Drew agreed.
"So what we do is I try to compare notes with like quarterbacks and, because of Dre Bly, I've gotten to strike up a really good relationship, and we talk weekly now with Kurt Warner. I've asked him for some of his feedback with regards to, what can I do? And this was over the last two years to help prepare a guy that's headed to the NFL to help his transition. And obviously, as he gets better for that transition, he got better for us."
Kurt Warner and Drew Brees are two quarterbacks who were not selected in the first round of the draft but went on to have Hall of Fame careers, with each signal-caller winning a Super Bowl.
Where a player is drafted has nothing to do with how their career might play out, reiterating Mack Brown's thoughts on the pre-draft hoopla that surrounds the event.
"Forty-seven years of watching the draft as a coach, what I realize is nobody knows what's going to happen, and it only takes one team to draft you."
Though Brown isn't in the business of predicting the future for NFL prospects, the Tar Heel coach believes in his former quarterback.
"Yes," Brown said when asked if Howell was a franchise quarterback. "And somebody will be lucky to get him."
And today, the Washington Commanders became the luck team Brown was talking about.
