Mack Brown on Sam Howell's performance in season opening loss

Coming into the season, North Carolina had high aspirations. The Tar Heels came in as the No. 10 team in the country. In North Carolina’s season opener against Virginia Tech, it was the Hokies that ultimately had the last laugh. Heisman hopeful quarterback Sam Howell struggled with three interceptions, but he was also sacked six times and did not have a lot of time to throw to his North Carolina receivers.

Howell struggled, but so did the rest of North Carolina’s offense

In the game, Howell completed 17 of his 32 pass attempts with 208 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. He also had 35 rushing yards. In addition to his three interceptions, Howell fumbled twice, although North Carolina recovered both. While Howell had an uncharacteristic down game, North Carolina did not run the ball well and the offensive line struggled throughout the game.

The Tar Heels rushed for 146 yards on 30 carries, averaging 4.9 yards per rush. Even when Howell was able to attempt a pass, many of them came while he was on the run and outside of the pocket. North Carolina head coach Mack Brown said that for things to improve on offense, protection of Howell is the top priority.

“I would think when you don’t run the ball well and you have six sacks, and he had to run for his life some others,” Brown said of Howell’s performance. “The thing I would say about Sam is we’ve got to do a better job protecting him. We’ve got to run the ball more consistently and we cannot have six sacks and him run for yards. He’s the one that turned the game around. When they were trying to sack him and he just ran and made plays on his own.

“He’s such a competitor. You can’t expect a guy to go out there and have a great game throwing the ball when you’ve got people around you all the time. You got to protect your quarterback.”

UNC needs a Heisman-level play from Howell to compete in the ACC

Howell is coming off of two highly productive seasons in Chapel Hill. In 2019, Howell threw for 3,641 yards, 39 total touchdowns and seven interceptions. Last season, Howell threw for 3,586 yards, 35 total touchdowns and seven interceptions for North Carolina.

Coming into the season, Howell is viewed as one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football. When the NFL Draft arrives after the season, Howell is likely to hear his name very early on day one.

With the Tar Heels now 0-1 to begin the season, Howell will need to play at the level that many believe he is capable of. He has shown in the past that he can be one of the most productive offensive players in college football. North Carolina lost a lot of weapons around Howell in the offseason. If they don’t quickly find a way to offset those losses, it could be a long season for Howell and North Carolina.