North Carolina’s QB position named among top battles to watch in Spring
This offseason is a very important one for the North Carolina Tar Heels as life without quarterback Drake Maye begins. With Maye off to the NFL, the Tar Heels are turning the page and now they have a quarterback battle.
Sophomore Conner Harrell started the team’s bowl game against West Virginia and will battle with graduate transfer Max Johnson who came to North Carolina from Texas A&M. It will be experience against a player that has been in the offense before and is a battle to watch.
Going into the Spring, a lot of attention will be on position battles across the country including this one. Brad Crawford of 247Sports wrote on the quarterback battles, listing Johnson as the projected starter, and had this to say:
Texas A&M transfer Max Johnson was an early take in the portal for the Tar Heels with UNC’s offensive staff knowing Drake Maye was heading to the 2024 NFL Draft. Johnson provides immediate veteran support at the position who should thrive in Chip Lindsey’s offense without struggling through a transitional period. If there are some early hiccups for Johnson after four years in the SEC, that’s what spring practice is for, right? Harrell, a redshirt freshman, made his first start in UNC’s bowl lost to West Virginia.
Notes 247Sports’ Grant Hughes, the former three-star signee from Alabama scored his first college touchdown on a 61-yard burst — analytics trackers had him reaching a maximum speed of 21.1 mph during the dash — and then connected with Chris Culliver over the top on a 41-yard score for his first touchdown toss. In limited action, Harrell showed why UNC’s staff felt good about their quarterback room last season with a top-5 pick ahead of him.
There’s a long way to go in this battle as we haven’t even hit Spring practices yet, let alone training camp for the season.
But just like we had two seasons ago in Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels are hoping the winner of this battle can lead them to be in contention in the ACC.
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