We turned the page from July to August over the weekend, which means we can finally start looking forward to football in earnest. For UNC supporters, that comes a little sooner than the rest of college football fans; the Heels will play in the first college football game of the 2026 season when they kick off their game against TCU in Dublin.
With less than a month before kickoff, we will be previewing all the position groups over the next three weeks. Yesterday, Akil did a breakdown of UNC’s options
at the quarterback position. I won’t rehash what he said (and highly advise you read it if you haven’t), but it’s sufficient to say that the Heels have several options at the position and none of those options are a sure thing.
This is the first year in a while that UNC had a true QB completion going into the season. UNC fans haven’t really experienced that in the past several years; for most of Mack Brown’s tenure, Sam Howell and Drake Maye helmed the offense. There was something of a competition going into the 2024 season, but it was (correctly) assumed that Max Johnson would be the starter. Last season, Bill Belichick convinced Gio Lopez to sign with Carolina. In short, it’s been a while since we entered the season with this much uncertainty at the position.
So, for today’s Question of the Day: who do you think ultimately starts the most games for UNC at QB this season? Billy Edwards is probably the safest option, as he has the most experience. We know that Belichick already likes what he sees out of Au’Tori Newkirk, so it’s possible he gets the chance to lock the job down first. Travis Burgess and Miles O’Neill also have pros and cons as starters for UNC this season. Ultimately, who do you think gets the nod under center for the majority of the season?
