By Pat Welter, WRAL

Put me in the hall of freezing cold takes, but I thought Jacolby Criswell was going to beat out Drake Maye for North Carolina’s starting quarterback job back in 2022.

Admittedly, I was zigging when others were going off Maye’s five-star recruiting status, but it’s hard to tell in practice. There’s a reason UNC head coach Mack Brown didn’t name Maye starter until five days before the season opener versus Florida A&M: It really was close.

“We just felt like Drake should walk out there first,” Brown said on August 22, 2022. “There’s very little difference between the two. If one quarterback is not moving the ball, we’ll put the other one in. We’re going to give each one a chance. If you’re moving it, you stay in. If you’re not, let each one have a chance.”

Maye threw five touchdowns versus Florida A&M, got UNC off to a 9-1 start and was just the No. 3 pick in the NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. The Tar Heels made the correct choice, but what if they had gone with the other guy?

Well, now they have the chance.

“It was super close. Spring game came down to a coin flip on who was going to start or not,” Criswell said in front of the UNC football beat for the first time since transferring back from Arkansas. “I believe it was super close, just because I know the work I put in, the work he put in. It was just a constant battle every single day.”

As far as competition goes, Criswell has had about as tough a draw as it gets. His freshman and sophomore seasons he backed up Sam Howell, the greatest North Carolina quarterback of all time, only to then compete with Maye, who was even better.

“I’ve been back and forth with great quarterbacks, and I know my right arm is one of the best in the country. One hundred percent. This is the money maker,” Criswell said. “So it’s like I’m not going to let it go to waste.”

After redshirting behind Maye in 2022, Criswell transferred to Arkansas, his home state. The Razorbacks also had an incumbent starter.

KJ Jefferson, the starter since his redshirt freshman season, was Arkansas’ all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns, completions and total touchdowns.

With Jefferson transferring to UCF for the 2024 season, Criswell was looking like the frontrunner to start. But with Bobby Petrino as the new offensive coordinator, the Razorbacks brought in Boise State quarterback Taylen Green, who won the job this spring.

“At the end of the day, new OC, didn’t really know him,” Criswell explained. “He came in with a guy he knew already, and I had to build that relationship, but just didn’t go my way.”

Now Criswell enters another quarterback battle.

Texas A&M transfer Max Johnson and redshirt sophomore Conner Harrell, who started the bowl game, were neck and neck during the spring. Based on what I saw, Harrell was the better player, certainly the more dynamic athlete. But Johnson has starting experience at Texas A&M and LSU plus the pedigree of being the son of Super Bowl champ Brad Johnson.

“I feel like either one can go in and win games right now,” Brown said after spring practices. “So it is a real competition.”

Both incumbent quarterbacks will be at the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte next week representing UNC.

After the spring, UNC lost former 4-star quarterback Tad Hudson to the portal. Hudson was ceding third-team reps to freshman quarterback Michael Merdinger. In April, Brown announced UNC was in the market for a transfer portal QB to round out the roster.

“You’ve got to have four quarterbacks, number one. So we need another one. And then you’ve got to see who’s available,” Brown said.

“You’ve got two [Johnson and Harrell] that are competing for a starting job. It gets confusing if somebody wants to come in and be the starter. Do you want a young one that’s going to have a chance to grow and start? Usually if a guy is leaving, it’s because he’s not starting. So it’s not an easy task to find somebody.”

Enter Criswell, and we’ve got ourselves the rare three-way competition.

“Conner, I was here when he was here, learned from him. He learned from me,” Criswell said. “Max, we played against him when he was at Texas A&M. Great guy. Regardless of the decision of what [offensive coordinator] coach [Chip] Lindsay wants and what coach Lindsay does, we are going to be in that QB room the whole year.”

Criswell comes to UNC with the program at a crossroads.

After 2-5 and 0-4 finishes the last two seasons, Brown was feeling the heat after a 30-10 loss to West Virginia in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl to close out 2023.

Brown being forced into “retirement” was an option I would have understood.

Instead, Brown doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere and is steadfast on getting this program over the nine-win hump and set up for the NIL era.

There’s a new NIL collective launching in August.

Brown brought in former Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins to run the defense, among other staff changes. Defense and the run game, lead by All-ACC running back Omarion Hampton, appear to be the strength for this team.

Expectations are the lowest they’ve been in several years with FanDuel setting their win total at 7.5 wins. All that said, UNC has been recruiting well under Brown every year and this team does have talent and experience. Maybe Criswell could unlock it.

“I’m familiar with a lot of the guys, familiar with a lot of the coaches, so it’s like they’re familiar with me. All I have to do is adjust and play the way I play,” Criswell said. “I came here and it was like I was relieved. There’s no pressure, to me. I feel like there’s no pressure here whatsoever. I know what I’m capable of. The coaches know what I’m capable of. The players know what I’m capable of. So now it’s doing what I do and play ball.”

Criswell definitely has the confidence of a starter.

Beyond having a stronger arm than Maye – Criswell also contends he has unquestionably the stronger arm than Howell – I’ll admit I was swayed by Criswell’s public speaking during his press conferences back in the battle of 2022.  You can see how he’d win a locker room over.

“You want to compete, you can come here. If you don’t, don’t come here,” Criswell said. “Me coming here knowing [Johnson and Harrell] have the spring over me, and I just have summer and the fall, I’m a competitor. I’m the type of guy you can have so many days over me, but I know what I’m capable of and that’s just how I carry myself.”

Johnson has legitimate reasons why it didn’t work out at LSU and Texas A&M, but he is on his third school for a reason. Harrell might be a great player someday, but can Brown take the risk on his inexperience now?

Criswell played coy about whether he reached out to UNC first or the other way around when he entered the portal.

“Just me and my relationship to the football guys here,” Criswell said when I asked him who made first contact.

“So you first?” I tried to clarify.

“Mmmhhmmm,” Criswell said with a grin.

Take from that interaction what you will.

I’ll read between the lines and say the UNC players and coaches knew they didn’t have the level of quarterback play they needed to compete for an ACC championship after the spring.

Not many programs get to go from Sam Howell to Drake Maye. The Tar Heels could could get the guy who pushed Maye to the final week for the job.

“I’ve got two years [of eligibility left],” Criswell said. “At this point, it’s do or die.”

They say when you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have one. Three is a recipe for reality show drama.

If Criswell is going to be a Power Five – check that Power Four (RIP, PAC-12 – starting quarterback, it feels like it’s now or never.

He needs to win this battle for himself, and I think UNC needs him to win it too.

Source: wralsportsfan.com