Before the UNC football team had Sam Howell and Drake Maye, it had another talented quarterback in TJ Yates.
If you remember Yates, he played at North Carolina from 2007-2010.
Despite the Tar Heels finishing below .500 his freshman year, Yates finished third among ACC passers in yards per game. UNC made bowl games in Yates’ final three seasons, winning a 30-27, double-overtime thriller against Tennessee in his Senior year, but had all wins vacated in his Sophomore and Junior seasons.
Yates went on to enjoyed limited success in the NFL, but he did help the Houston Texans make the playoffs and win a playoff game for the first time in franchise history. After his playing days, he transitioned into assistant coaching roles with the Texans and Atlanta Falcons, who he also played with in 2014.
With the Falcons recently hiring Raheem Morris as head coach, would Yates join former Tar Heel Arthur Smith in searching for new employment?
Nope.
Yates, who worked with the likes of former USC standout Drake London as Atlanta’s wide receivers coach last year, is moving to quarterbacks coach this year.
Falcons WR coach T.J. Yates is staying in Atlanta per source. But the former QB will be sliding over to be the QB coach.
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) January 29, 2024
I’m ecstatic for Yates, as he actually played quarterback for his entire playing career. He’ll get the opportunity to work with former University of Cincinnati standout Demond Ridder, with hopes of turning him into the Falcons’ franchise quarterback, plus former Carolina Panthers gunslinger Taylor Heinicke.
My one question with the move is – why in the world would you have a former quarterback coaching wide receivers?
I can only imagine it was to help show them where quarterbacks like to place the ball, but it was also one of many decisions Smith was scrutinized for.
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