By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — You won’t find out officially who North Carolina’s starting quarterback will be to begin the season until the first offensive play of the Aug. 29 opener at Minnesota.
The Tar Heels, who held a closed scrimmage Saturday, will know the starter next week and likely would have announced that by next Friday, but Minnesota isn’t releasing a depth chart ahead of the game. To counter that, UNC won’t release a depth chart either, according to a school spokesman.
The game will start at 8 p.m. ET and air on Fox (WRAZ in the Triangle).
Comments during preseason camp from Coach Mack Brown suggest that it is down to either Texas A&M graduate transfer Max Johnson or sophomore Connor Harrell. Arkansas Graduate transfer Jacolby Criswell is seen as too far behind since he wasn’t at UNC for spring practice.
Johnson is a veteran quarterback with numerous games in the SEC with LSU and Texas A&M, connecting on 474 of 784 career passes for 5,852 yards and 48 touchdowns.
Harrell has completed 22 of 33 career passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns.
| Month/ date | Score/ time | Opponent | Record/ TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| September | |||
| 1 | L, 48–14 | vs. TCU | 0–1 |
| 6 | W, 20–3 | at Charlotte | 1–1 |
| 13 | W, 41–6 | vs. Richmond | 2–1 |
| 20 | L, 34–9 | at UCF | 2–2 |
| October | |||
| 4 | L, 38–10 | vs. Clemson | 2–3, 0–1 ACC |
| 17 (Fri.) | L, 21–18 | at California | 2–4, 0–2 |
| 25 | L, 17–16, OT | vs. No. 16 Virginia | 2–5, 0–3 |
| 31 (Fri.) | W, 27–10 | at Syracuse | 3–5, 1–3 |
| November | |||
| 8 | W, 20–15 | vs. Stanford | 4–5, 2–3 |
| 15 | L, 28–12 | at Wake Forest | 4–6, 2–4 |
| 22 | L, 32–25 | vs. Duke | 4–7, 2–5 |
| 29 | L, 42–19 | at N.C. State | 4–8, 2–6 |
Photo courtesy of the ACC
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