hey coach Russ who's going to be starting quarterback this year is it going to be Conor is it going to be Matt is it going to be jaob the starting quarterback for the North Carolina Tar Hills in 2024 is going to be you n you what's going on Tor Hill Nation it is your favorite North Carolinian Ross thear hill and in this huddle baby we're going to talk about the 20124 UNC quarterback room man and obviously with the departure of the third overall pick and the 2024 NFL draft Drake May leaving we have done a ton of deliberating over the past couple of months of who was going to take his spot as qb1 for this North Carolina program and in this huddle I'm going to try to focus on the three guys that legitimately have a chance of taking that quarterback one spot right and I'm not going to put him in any particular order necessarily um on my depth chart coach Russ's depth chart because I don't want to give it away stick around until the end and then I will let you know who coach Russ would start in week one I'm sure that this thing is going to cause a stinking Firestorm to a certain extent it's going to be a good uh conversation starter if you will and I'm excited about this one because obviously this is what everybody is wondering who is going to be qb1 for the 2024 North Carolina Tar Hills now I'm going to start from what I think is the oldest guy and go down to the youngest guy that's how we're going to do this just to make it fair and then once again at the end I'm going to tell you who I would start at qb1 so without further Ado we're going to start with my man Jobe Criswell who's a 6'1 230 PB senior from morlon Arkansas he originally committed to the University of North Carolina back in 2020 as a four-star Prospect and he was the number 267 ranked player in the 247 composite when Sam left for the NFL he competed in 20222 uh with Drake May for the starting quarterback position he ultimately lost out to Drake May who as I a mentioned was the number three overall pick in the NFL draft so obviously he lost out to a really really good quarterback and then he sat behind him basically in 2022 decided to transfer out to Arkansas back home for the 2023 season and unfortunately in 2023 uh KJ Jefferson was still there who was a a pretty good quarterback in and of himself and so uh jacobe Criswell played behind him and then after the spring in Arkansas uh for his own reasons he decided to transfer back to the University of North Carolina where he's going to eventually get his master's degree but according to jacobe chriswell he's not coming back necessarily to just sit around he's coming back to compete um he recently said that in an interview um on some of the uh Carolina websites you know inside Carolina Tar Hill Illustrated etc etc so you know he's coming back to play some stinking football and um I like jacobe Chiswell right jakobe Criswell um he's kind of shorter in stature he's put on a little bit of weight since his freshman year uh he gets a lot of Sam how nods um because they're kind of like similar in size and stature um he's got a big arm man the dude's got a big arm he can put some zip on the football and uh you know jacobe is one of those guys where a lot of people thought back in 2022 that he could possibly get that qb1 spot I mean who knows how much of that was just coach speak and Coach talk but they really said that that was a h very close quarterback battle and so uh jacobe Criswell can spend the football man he's been around he's got a lot of experience obviously couple of years with Carolina he was over there at Arkansas and I think that he is an extremely good asset to this football team but missing Spring ball kind of puts him behind the the power curb if you will and uh he's going to have uphill battle if he's going to get that qb1 spot by week one the second guy that we're going to talk about is the incoming transfer Max Johnson from Texas A&M um he's a 6 fo5 225 pound senior from Watkinsville Georgia with two years of Eligibility remaining he originally committed to LS you back in 2020 where he really did have some pretty good numbers as a freshman and sophomore at LSU remember this is Big Time SEC football man and in 2020 he finished 88 for 150 1,69 yards eight touchdowns to only one interception and then in 2021 as a sophomore he completed 225 passes for 373 well out of 373 attempts excuse me for 2,8 15 yards 27 touchdowns to six ints I mean that's by far his best season and if we could get those numbers like this year dude that'd be Stellar that'd be Stellar because remember if I'm not mistaken Drizzy only had 24 passing touchdowns last year so anything like that would be a huge Plus for this program now after the 2021 season he transferred over to Texas A&M 22 had a little bit of injury concerns he completed 43 out of 71 passes for 517 yards three touchdowns to no ints and then in 2023 a five-star quarterback came in named Conor Wagman who basically took that number one spot that qb1 spot of Texas A&M and then Max Johnson kind of played you know after Wagman got hurt and he played honorably man he had uh four 14 152 yards passing nine touchdowns and five picks in eight total games of play he went 118 out of 190 so you know Max had some good numbers against big-time competition man this isn't any slouch competition and the guys played SEC football for four years not just playing in the games but obviously competing against these guys day in and day out so like I said he transferred out of Texas A&M he lost the job to Conor Wagman who was a five-star he's like a 98 grade according to 247 man so I mean no harm no foul in that sense um max ended up taking over for him after Wagman got injured and then Max Johnson actually got injured himself he fractured I think two ribs in two separate games so he's an experienced guy he can throw the football downfield uh though he's more of a touch guy I don't really see a whole bunch of zip on his passes if you will uh I don't really see him as a guy that necessarily is just going to throw the needle he's not going to step up in the pocket and throw rockets in between safeties and linebackers or anything like that but he's intelligent he's a smart dude and um you know you got to like Max Johnson coming over because he gives you so much experience right he's often considered a pocket passer I think that that's probably the best way to uh categorize him he is sneaky athletic though he'll give you a little bit of athleticism that might kind of surprise you out there on the edge but um one of the things he needs to do is he needs to get out of bounds as opposed to trying to take on linebackers and safeties because that's one of the reasons the kid ends up keep getting hurt but um he's been given the moniker of a game manager uh he himself has said that that's kind of like a double- ledged sword because on one end you could say that that's well you're an intelligent guy who makes the correct plays and on the other end some people say you're a g manager because you're not exciting right you can't make the big play you don't you don't pop you know so he kind of uh takes a little bit of you can tell uh he takes it a little bit on the chin he's like you know I kind of like it but I don't like it don't don't say that about me right I'm not just a game manager I can make all the throws he's kind of said that in his interviews man but like I said he's an experienced guy he's a smart guy um one of the issues that I have with Max is he's a bigger frame guy but a lot of times he kind of sits in the pocket sometimes to his own detriment you could say that it's nice he stands up there tall you know he doesn't necessarily get frazzled with uh a whole bunch of pressure if you will but his numbers drop down obviously like they do with most quarterbacks but he'll stand there and uh he'll take a hit but a lot of times it's like a second too late where he's waiting for the receiver to get open as opposed to to throwing the receiver open so that's one of the things that I've noticed with Max Johnson uh in the pocket and something that he would need to clean up for because once again we don't know what kind of pass Pro to expect from this new unit four out of five offensive lineman uh with the changeover so that's something that he's going to have to get the ball out quick he's not going to be able to sit there all day and he's got to be a more decisive decision maker and then after that we got my man Conor harrold he's a red shirt sophomore 6'2 210 lounds he's a quarterback from Alabaster Alabama and he was a three- star Prospect and the 33rd ranked quarterback in his class he was the 10th ranked do threat quarterback according to rivals.com now Conor appeared in four total games last year completing 22 out of 33 passes for 270 yards two touchdowns and two interceptions both of those picks came came and the Duke's May Bowl against West Virginia he also rushed for 75 yards on 22 carries which is good for 3.4 yards per carry and he had one touchdown rushing Conor is a smaller stature dude and the sense that he's not thick he's not thick like jacobe Criswell he's got a ton of zip on the ball man and he showed on multiple occasions that he's got track star speed the dude we've seen him run away from safeties and Corners in practice when Connor gets downhill bro he is stinking gone and so that's one of those things that he brings to the table that not even jacobe Criswell or Max Johnson bring to the table he truly is a dual threat quarterback that can hurt you with his legs man he had some really big moments where he popped in the bow game until he injured his ankle but then you could also see some of the youth at times where you know the pass Pro was kind of sketchy especially in the later stages of that game and I felt like which is very typical of young quarterbacks that Connor allowed the previous plays clock to get into his head so pre- snap you know he's already thinking hey that last play I had like a second to make my read and and make my decision and he kind of looked like he wasn't really going through his progressions in the later stages of the game now remember this is the first time that Connor started a football game and it's in a bowl game and Carolina had some opt outs so I'm going to give him to a certain extent a pass on that because it's very typical of young quarterbacks right but we can't forget that Connor does lack the experience right at the Collegiate level now I've heard a lot of people say hey we got to get him that experience and that's very very true but it's just something to take into consideration when we look at who's going to be qb1 in week one it's interesting because Connor is such a good athlete man he's got such a big arm he's a good kid everybody likes him from all you know coaching staff everybody talks about how this kid stays after after you know practice I was about to say after work he stays after practice he's just really you know in tune with honing his skills and trying to be the best teammate the best quarterback that he can be and I think the kids got tremend mendous upside like I said he stinking showed some really good flashes in the bowl game but here's where the controversy starts if you will now let me preface this by this I'm not at practice okay I don't have any insid or information okay I'm just a fan like you are but I want you to hear me out okay 800 PM kickoff it's an away game Big 10 country Prime Time television on Fox probably a soldout house I'm starting Max Johnson in week one I know I know I know that it's not a sexy pick I know and I know that I'm going to catch a a ton of heat for that stinking pick but I'm going to go with four years of experience in the SEC you just can't Overlook that man when you talk about the caliber and the stage that you're going to be on come August 29th Thursday Night Football in front of the country now before you hate me okay I 100% believe that Conor Herold needs packages I I 100% believe that he needs packages and I'll even say this two three stinking possessions goes by and Max Johnson's got a stagnant offense pull him right put Connor in there give him the Reigns 100% because what I'm telling you is the real one reason why I would start Max Johnson is because of the experience if that's not necessarily uh becoming a variable that Carolina can use to its Advantage well then I 100% agree hey we're going to go with Conor Harrell but come week one guy under Center or in the gun whatever Carolina decides to do because they're going to be doing a lot of handing the ball off to stinking o I'm telling you right now that I'm going with the experience Max Johnson is not going to be widey with the lights on he's been there too many times right over the course of the last four years Big Time football and I know a lot of Carolina fans because I've seen them all over the boards everybody is calling for Connor and I understand it and I'm pulling for the kid as well okay I'm just telling you from a coach's perspective somebody on the outside looking in you know I can't help but put a premium on the experience and I know that those lights won't be too bright for Max Johnson so I'm going to go with the wealth of experience over the kid that's young talented and has a really high ceiling so I want you to let me know what you think about Coach Russ the tar Hills pick for qb1 and week one I'm sure that I'm going to get a lot of stinking push back on this one man but it is what it is man that's who I'm going with am I completely off my rocker or do you kind of understand where I'm coming from comment down in the comment section and if you haven't already please like share and subscribe to the channel I can't wait to chop it up about this one Tar Hill Nation we'll see you on the next one baby [Applause] go [Applause]