The Battle For QB2

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CHAPEL HILL – The biggest topic a year ago coming out of spring practice for North Carolina was who would end up starting at quarterback.

A year later, and Drake Maye is obviously entrenched there, but drama remains in the position group. Now, a discussion point regards his backup. Who will it be, redshirt freshman Conner Harrell, or true freshman Tad Hudson?

“We’ve got to find the guy that takes Drake’s place, and that’s wide open right now,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said last week. “We’re obviously looking at Conner Harrell because he’s the guy that was the third guy last year. You’re looking at Tad Hudson. You’ve got the other guys that have had some reps.

“But Conner is going to get the second most reps right now because we’ve got to make a decision, ‘Is Conner the guy?’ Because we do not feel like that Drake will be here after another year if he has the kind of year that we all want him to and expect him to.”

Harrell is just above six feet and weighs 200 pounds. A 3-star player at Thompson High School in alabaster, AL, he led his team to a pair of state championships in Alabama’s largest class. Harrell was also his class valedictorian.

Hudson is bigger at 6-foot-2 and change, weighing 220 pounds. He starred at Hough High School in Huntersville, NC., and while he ended up a 3-star prospect, Hudson was a 4-star at Rivals until last season, and maintained the fourth star on other services. He went 33-5 as the starter at Hough, and was also an all-conference baseball player.

Neither came in with the reputation of Carolina’s last two starting QBs Sam Howell and Maye, but one would be the starter if Maye gets injured. And, as Brown said, would have the inside track toward taking over in 2024, since the staff believes Maye will move on to the NFL.

“We’re making some progress,” first-year UNC offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chip Lindsey said following practice Tuesday morning.

First, his remarks about Harrell: “Conner, obvious is a little bit experience, been here a little bit longer. I see him really getting better. The last couple of times out, he’s making better decisions on getting the ball out of his hand on time, which is a key.

"A lot of times, young quarterbacks will hold the ball some, and we’ve really worked hard on that. I think there’s certain things Conner does really well that we’ve got to continue to do from a game plan standpoint if he were playing.”

Now, his remarks about Hudson: “Tad has come in as a true freshman and really should be in high school still, some days he doesn’t look like that, and some days he kind of looks like he’s still figuring it out. Every day is somewhat a new scenario or maybe some new install or something. I like his progress. He is studying, he’s making some mistakes, but he’s not repeating them, which is always a good thing.”

Carolina held its tenth practice of the spring Tuesday morning, and will go again Thursday. They are then off until the following Tuesday for Easter. The annual game concluding spring practice is April 15.