By Brian Murphy, WRAL

North Carolina’s Mack Brown tried and tried and tried to explain the Tar Heels’ quarterback situation entering Thursday’s season opener at Minnesota.

Brown did not name a starter and seemed to commit to a two-quarterback system for the opener – and for the season.

Max Johnson, a transfer from Texas A&M, and Conner Harrell, who started UNC’s bowl game last season, have been competing for the starting job throughout the off-season.

“Depending on how the game goes, we’d like to play two quarterbacks and we’d like to do it for the season,” Brown said Friday.

He explained it was imperative to have two quarterbacks ready to go, adding that the program has been fortunate that former star quarterbacks Sam Howell and Drake Maye made it through their careers without significant injuries.

So far, so good. Two quarterbacks. OK.

Brown said coaches have tailored different plans for each quarterback within their offensive system and aren’t sure which one will work best against the Gophers.

“They’re both good,” he said. “They’re both good enough to win. But we’ve got to figure out what, during the game, works the best to win the game.”

Got it. Two quarterbacks and see how it goes.

North Carolina isn’t releasing a depth chart for the game because Minnesota isn’t releasing one. But Brown insisted that the quarterback decision is not part of any gamesmanship.

It’s a two-man race, Brown said, with third-stringer Jacolby Criswell, a former Tar Heel who spent last season at Arkansas before returning to UNC after spring practice, not yet competing for the starting job.

Johnson, a 6-foot-5 graduate student, started his career at LSU before transferring to Texas A&M. The son of former Florida State and Super Bowl-winning quarterback Brad Johnson, Max has played parts of four seasons, including a stellar 2021 campaign at LSU (2,815 yards, 27 touchdowns, six interceptions).

Harrell, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, played in five games for UNC last season, including one start. He threw for 270 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions behind Maye, who was the No. 3 pick in the NFL Draft.

“I do see scenarios where both play,” Brown said.

Huh. Both quarterbacks aren’t assured of playing?

“If one of them looks like Drake Maye on Thursday night and he’s winning all the games, we’re going to play one quarterback,” Brown said.

So maybe not two quarterbacks?

“I’ve learned that what I say is not what people hear sometimes,” Brown said, sensing some confusion.

So once more: “What I’m saying is that we will have both quarterbacks ready and we would play them based on how the game would dictate when you go into the game,” he said.

He said some fans would hear it and think it’s the dumbest thing in the world to play two quarterbacks, others would conclude the Tar Heels’ don’t even have one quarterback and still others, optimistically perhaps, would decide the team has two good quarterbacks.

Brown and the other coaches will be watching Thursday to figure it out.

“We’ll be like you all,” he said, “we’ll be sitting there watching the game and say this is working. We’ll let it go. This isn’t working. Let’s change it up, let’s try something else.”

Source: wralsportsfan.com