CHAPEL HILL – Nobody will mistake Mack Brown for a stand-up comedian, though the North Carolina coach can cause a chuckle from time to time.
As an example, during the ACC Kickoff three weeks ago in Charlotte, he was asked a question about the relationship between star quarterback Sam Howell and Phil Longo, UNC’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach.
Howell, the Preseason ACC Player of the Year, is entering his third season as the Tar Heels’ starter and is one of the leading candidates for the Heisman Trophy. He is about as cerebral as it gets for a college quarterback, a true football version of a gym rat on the field and in the film room. That fits right in with Longo’s style, too.
Insert Brown’s joke:
“Sam knows our offense as well as Phil Longo does,” he responded. “In fact, Phil interviewed for a job earlier, and I thought I'll make Sam the offensive coordinator and just move on. We'll save some money. Now with name, image and likeness, I could have played Sam as the offensive coordinator and the quarterback, I don't know, as we look at that.
“Continuity is really, really important if it's good.”
There is no denying the chemistry between Howell and Longo is top-shelf stuff. They see so many things similarly, and the trust factor has reached a professional level. That is why a storyline emanating from fall camp for the Tar Heels is Howell’s increased involvement with game-planning.
And this is a real thing.
“We have a starting quarterback with three years of experience on the field,” Longo said. “And It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a snap at the quarterback position. So, he has more experience sitting in the best seat in the house, which is right behind the center, more so than even I do.”
With Longo implicitly trusting Howell’s judgement, you have an iron-clad relationship that should reveal a step forward on the field this fall. Howell listens to every word from Longo, he takes everything, the good and the bad, and processes it to his and the team’s advantage.
Howell’s attention to detail and faith in Longo makes them a perfect match.
“He has some things that he and I would both like him to work on, and he’s done a great job at those three things…,” Longo said. “We’re more into meeting where we collaborate. There’s many different ways to attack different areas of the field in our offense, and we’ve got multiple ways to attack those regions and those areas.
“I’ll lean on Sam more if we’re going to try to attack the middle with four of five plays, which two or three does he like the most, and then we scale it down. The ones your quarterback is really confident in with throws or runs with a really good rhythm and can run in its sleep, those are the ones we want to lean towards because those are the ones he’s going to have the most confidence in when we’re running them in the games.”
Howell obviously agrees.
“With Coach Longo, the main thing with him is he wants you to like what we’re doing,” he said. “If there’s one play I don’t like in the offense, he gets rid of it. I just think over the years you earn that trust and earn that respect.”
Respect is something Howell attained just two games into his career.
As a true freshman, he led the Tar Heels to fourth-quarter comeback wins over South Carolina and Miami in the first two games of the second Brown era, which were also his first two outings as a collegian. Since, all the Indian Trail, NC, native has done is blaze a trail that will smash all of UNC’s passing records and place him squarely in the discussion for the Heisman and top pick in the 2022 NFL draft.
Howell received 114 of 146 votes for Preseason ACC Player of the Year in Charlotte. He was second-team All-ACC last fall after leading the ACC with 30 touchdown passes and 3,586 passing yards. Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, the first pick in the NFL draft in April, was the first team QB.
Howell has started all 25 games the Tar Heels have played the last two seasons completing 496 of 770 pass attempts (64.4 percent) for 7.227 yards, 68 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. In addition, Howell has run for six touchdowns and has caught two TD passes.
But he isn’t just a gunslinger, a tag courtesy of fans and many in the media. Howell is much more than that. Otherwise, Longo wouldn’t lean so heavily on him.
“I just have to make sure I get them (QBs) in a place mentally where their feedback is legitimate feedback,” Longo said, with respect to taking seriously what Howell and other quarterbacks tell him. “I don’t want to throw four verticals because they love the play, I want to throw it because they’re really efficient at it, it’s something that looks good against the defense this week, and they have a high confidence with regard to how they execute.”
Longo is certain he gets the full scope from Howell, a reason the 6-foot-1, 220-pound junior has more say in things now than before. It is clearly an evolutionary process.
“I was a little involved last year, a lot more involved than in my freshman year,” Howell said. “This year, me and him have talked about it, I’ll probably be pretty involved. We’ll sit down and do some game-planning together early on in the week and just share our thoughts about what I like, what he likes.”
And what Longo likes is usually what Howell likes. Or at least what people see them run on Saturdays will be plays hashed out and largely agreed on during the week. In agreement, in accordance, and on the same page. That is Sam Howell and Phil Longo.
