Last season’s North Carolina Tar Heels team was highlighted by superstar quarterback Drake Maye. Maye eventually went on to have a great season and was selected as a top-three draft pick in the 2024 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.
With Maye in the NFL, the Tar Heels are forced to find a new signal caller behind center. There are three guys currently in the mix for that position.
Conner Harrell, one of the three players vying for the starting quarterback role, was the only player left on the team that was on the depth chart last season. As a freshman last year, Harrell completed 22 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions as the main backup to Maye.
Jacolby Criswell has an interesting story leading up to his fight for this spot. He spent the first three years of his collegiate career with the Tar Heels before transferring his junior year to Arkansas. He had very minimal stats in those first three years. His first sophomore year was his most productive with 179 passing yards and a touchdown.
Last season, he had 143 yards and three touchdowns on 17 completed passes. He has thrown just one interception in his entire career.
The last member of the battle is another graduate transfer, Max Johnson.
Johnson spent the first two years of his career with LSU where he threw 474 completions for 3,883 yards and 35 touchdowns with seven interceptions. He transferred to Texas A&M where he also spent two years. He completed 161 passes for 1,969 yards and 12 touchdowns with five interceptions before making the move in his last year of eligibility to North Carolina.
On3 predicts that Max Johnson will get the start in Week 1 against Minnesota, but that the leash will be tight, and multiple quarterbacks might be involved early and often.
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