Mack Brown updates UNC quarterback competition, timetable for decision

Mack Brown and the North Carolina Tar Heels are eager to redeem themselves after a disappointing finish to their 2021 season. But in order to do so, the Tar Heels must figure out who will start at quarterback this year after Sam Howell was drafted in the 2022 NFL Draft. Recently Brown provided an update on North Carolina’s quarterback competition and revealed a timetable for his decision.

“I try to keep things very simple, and to me, we had this same situation three years ago at this time of the year,” said Brown. “We didn’t know who was going to be the starter. We thought it might be Sam, but the other two had more experience. And then it was evident, after summer. Players would come to you, and you’d ask older players who look good in the summer.”

But this is not the first time Brown has run into a situation like this. After leading the Texas Longhorns to a national championship victory against the USC Trojans in 2005, Brown had to place Longhorns legendary quarterback Vince Young the following year. In 2006, it was between a pair of freshmen, Jevan Snead and Colt McCoy, with McCoy winning the position. But Brown wasn’t sold on the future record-setting Longhorn.

“So, in the summer, we had a Jevan Snead and Colt McCoy at Texas. And Jevan probably lead, leaving spring practice. We got back in the fall. I asked the older guys who looks the best? ‘Oh, Colt’s your quarterback; it’s 100 percent’.”

But this is the now, and Brown is no longer at Texas. So how does he feel about north Carolina’s quarterback room and the talent he has on the roster? Well, given his answer, Brown isn’t worried about his quarterback position at all.

“In modern day, if you don’t have a quarterback you don’t have a chance to win. and we have a really strong quarterback room. So I’m not worried about that position. I think it’s gonna be good I’m not sure when, not sure who starts, or how we do but it’s a very talented room so we’re gonna be OK.”

Brown closed by highlighting how at the end of his Texas tenure, the quarterback room was void of talent. But at North Carolina, the Tar Heels head man will have trouble choosing his next quarterback out of some quality candidates. North Carolina’s quarterback battle is likely to come down to two candidates, redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Maye and junior quarterback Jacolby Criswell. Regardless of who Brown chooses, the Tar Heels head coach must quickly settle them in as the starter as the team attempts to rebound from their dreadful finish to the 2021 season.