Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.
Carolina has added a familiar, fourth big arm to its quarterback room.
If it wasn’t for red-shirted Tad Hudson entering the transfer portal, Jacolby Criswell might not have made the unusual decision of coming back to the school where he began his college football career and played for two seasons.
After one season at Arkansas, where things didn’t go so well, Criswell found out that Mack Brown and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey were looking for another quarterback whom they knew could play at this level. Criswell, who has two years of eligibility left, doesn’t think there is a list. Everyone starts anew now that he’s home.
“It’s a rush,” he said Monday when reintroduced to the media. “It’s a great feeling coming back to something you’re used to. That was the main reason. It was like I was relieved. I didn’t want to have to restart my whole life knowing I have two years left because it’s so hard to get back on track.”
Criswell almost asked his strong right arm to say a few words, too, tapping the muscular forearm that supposedly threw the ball farther than Sam Howell in 2021. Asked about that, he said, “100 percent true” with a big smile on his face.
Junior Conner Harrell and junior transfer Max Johnson are in a battle for the starting position on August 29 at Minnesota. They have both had spring practice and the spring game while Criswell was finishing up the semester in Fayetteville.
Harrell had one start last season, when Drake Maye sat out the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, and had 224 yards of total offense, one TD pass and two picks against West Virginia. In 2021, Criswell played for the banged-up Howell against Wofford and completed 11 of 19 and ran for a touchdown. And there’s lefty Johnson, who was neck-and-neck with Harrell after the last spring game. He transferred from Texas A&M after leaving LSU.
So from an experience standpoint, the Tar Heels are loaded with three veteran QBs. The fourth scholarship quarterback is Israeli-born, Florida-bred Mike Merdinger, who starred at Cardinal Gibbons in Raleigh last year but hasn’t played a snap of college football and will at least open as fourth on the depth chart.
“Obviously, this is a new team, but I’m familiar with a lot of the guys, familiar with the coaches,” Criswell said. “And so it’s just like, okay, they’re familiar with me. All I have to do is adjust and play the way I play. You don’t play this sport to sit on the bench. I’ve been back and forth with great quarterbacks and I know my right arm is one of the best in the country.
“This is the money maker,” he said, tapping it again. “And I’m not gonna let it go to waste. I’ve got two years left, so at this point it’s do or die.”
Let the competition begin!
Featured image via Dakota Moyer
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines