Mack Brown previews UNC quarterback battle in the post Sam Howell era

As former North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell prepares for the 2022 NFL Draft, head coach Mack Brown must oversee his first quarterback battle in quite a while. For the first time in his tenure with the Tar Heels, a new quarterback will emerge under center.

The candidates for the open job include former four-star recruit and top-50 prospect Drake Maye, along with former four-star recruit Jacolby Criswell. Here is how Mack Brown views the quarterback battle entering spring practice.

“How do we handle our quarterbacks in the spring? We’ve got to No. 1 go back and be really hard on them and put them in difficult situations,” said Brown. “I don’t want the Florida A&M game to be the first time that our quarterbacks feel pressure. So I’ve talked to coach Chizek and coach Longo about putting them in game situations throughout the spring.

“Sam Howell did a great job his first year, so these two young guys that we’ve got that will be out there first in Jacolby (Criswell) and Drake (Maye), they’ve been here. One of them two years, one of them’s been here a year. They’ve been here long enough. So now we need to put pressure on them. … We will handle the quarterbacks like we did the first year with the three quarterbacks when we were here. They’ll all have their opportunities. We probably will not make a decision on who starts until fall, because we’ll also want to have preseason camp. But they could separate. What we’re going to be doing, some different things offensively, so they’re going to have to learn. We’re going to move the quarterback more, we’re going to have more quick game, we’re going to do some different things offensively than we’ve done for the previous three years.”

More from Mack Brown

Mack Brown also addressed the other quarterbacks on the roster, promising to give everyone a shot to earn their snaps in the offseason battle.

“Jefferson Boaz will get some shots and Conner Harrell, who was just named high school football American National Player of the Year which is an unbelievable feat,” said Brown. (Harrell)’s the valedictorian of his high school, two-time Alabama Player of the Year, two-time state champion, so there’s a lot of great things that Conner brings to us. It’ll be fun to watch him in the spring as well.”

Jefferson Boaz is a former three-star recruit and sophomore quarterback, while Conner Harrell is a three-star recruit in the 2022 On3 consensus and a four-star in the On3 rankings.