The quarterback battle between [autotag]Drake Maye[/autotag] and [autotag]Jacolby Criswell[/autotag] is the biggest storyline for the UNC football program going into the 2022 season.
After Spring practices and the annual scrimmage, Mack Brown and his staff weren’t dropping any hints as to who has the lead. This battle will play out throughout the Summer and it very well could come down to the wire in terms of the winner.
But no matter who is the starter, they are going to have to elevate their game to lead the offense. Ahead of this season, ESPN ranked where each team’s quarterback play is at in tiers. And for UNC, they find their battle in Tier 10.
Here is what David Hale had to say about the QB battles this year:
All five of these teams opened the season in the AP Top 25 last year. Only Notre Dame finished with fewer than four losses. The Irish and UNC both had solid — if not always spectacular — QB play, but Jack Coan and Sam Howell have moved on. LSU, Texas A&M and Washington were undone largely because they couldn’t find anyone to generate some offense. All five teams have real potential for 2022 if they can identify a burgeoning star at QB. There are ample options, but it’s impossible to say how many will ultimately find the right answer.
Joining Maye and Criswell in terms of battles is Notre Dame (Tyler Buchner and Drew Pyne), LSU (Jayden Daniels and Myles Brennan), Texas A&M (Haynes King, Max Johnson and Conner Weigman) and Washington (Michael Penix Jr., Dylan Morris and Sam Huard).
It will be interesting to see who wins the UNC job and how they control the offense.
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