CHAPEL HILL – At some point in the next few weeks, North Carolina will name a starting quarterback for its season-opener at Minnesota. It will happen.
UNC fans won’t wait for August 29 to see who jogs onto the field for the first offensive snap against the Golden Gophers. That guy will be named The Guy well before then.
“We’ve got to figure out in a ten-day period or so who gets all the reps headed down toward the Minnesota game,” Tar Heels Coach Mack Brown said Monday night following the team’s first practice of fall camp.
In contention are third-year sophomore Conner Harrell and Texas A&M transfer Max Johnson, who has four seasons of experience in the ACC, but also has two years of eligibility remaining. He not only has his Covid year to use, but a redshirt one as well.
Jacolby Criswell, who spent his first three seasons of college in Chapel Hill before playing last fall at Arkansas, is back again, having returned in the spring. He is a comfortable third option, doesn’t appear in the mix right now. This is a battle between Harrell and Johnson, and while they are different players, both will be graded similarly.
“Chip (Lindsey) and Clyde Christensen have given them five things that they need to be successful at if they’re going to take the job,” Brown said, referring to Lindsey, the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and Christensen, the analyst who was Tom Brady’s QB coach two years ago.
“And then in the morning, we will meet twice tomorrow, before we practice, as position groups. We will go through every play in practice with those five things and say, ‘this quarterback did these give things better today than you did…’ And we’ll see what happens.”
Harrell and Johnson will go through the grinder over the next couple of weeks. In cliched parlance, the staff will throw the kitchen sink at them and see how each grades out. The evaluations are key, as each player is literally quite different.
Harrell is 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, righthanded, and is a take-off-up-the-gut kind of quarterback with a strong arm. Johnson is 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, and is pick-over-the-middle guy also with a strong arm.
Johnson 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.
Experience aside, this is a battle, make no mistake.
“I’d like for them to compete at a very high level,” Brown said, regarding the pressure each will face in practice. “One them’s going to look good one day (and) the other one’s going to look better the next day. So, if you go back and forth every day, then it gets confusing for them. We want to get a body of work.”
What are some key points the staff will monitor?
Thoroughly knowing the offense; getting rid of the ball and avoiding sacks; accuracy, ability to get the ball to the right guy and not throw the deep ball if it’s not there; finding players underneath that can make plays; and taking care of the ball.
With as much intel as the staff can crunch over the next couple of weeks, a starter will emerge.
“What I like in my experience is about ten days or a week before the start (opener), let him be the starter so he’s comfortable talking to the team as a starter and also let him talk to (the media) before the game,” Brown explained. “I’ve never been one of those guys that said you’ll see it game (day).”
The Heels and Gophers square off in 30 days, so Brown’s math suggests a decision will be made in the next 14-18 days.
