Chansky's Notebook: The Warrior

It’s still not official whether Sam Howell will be back next season.

Mack Brown thinks UNC’s all-time passing and total offense quarterback is turning pro, and will be a first-round pick in the next NFL draft, but acknowledged Wednesday that Howell has not told him one way or the other.

The 2022 Tar Heels will be good without Howell, but with him they would be the preseason favorite to win the ACC Coastal Division for the second straight year.

That they fell short in 2021 may be a reason Howell has not made his plans public yet. “He doesn’t want the talk to be about him,” Brown said. “He wants to finish the season the right way after we had a chance to win eight games and a ninth in a bowl.”

Howell could be ending his college career the way it began – against South Carolina at the Panthers’ Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, where the gunslinger from nearby Indian Trail led UNC to a stunning 24-20 upset of the favored Gamecocks in 2019.

Brown will be happy for Howell if he does go pro because “our program wouldn’t be where it is without him.” And No. 7 has shown no sign of looking ahead, playing courageously against N.C. State in the regular-season finale with a sore left shoulder that might have kept some other players out and focusing on their future.

“He’s a warrior,” Brown said, “and not only did he play against State, he told us, ‘Run me, man.’” Howell had total offense of 222 yards against the Wolfpack, including rushing for two touchdowns. He was the best quarterback on the field until State’s Devin Leary threw for his third and fourth touchdowns in the fateful last two minutes.

The ACC Preseason Player of the Year, Howell by necessity became a dual-threat quarterback and did not make any of the three All-ACC teams behind other record-breaking QBs Kenny Pickett of Pitt, Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman and Virginia’s Brennan Armstrong, garnering instead Honorable Mention recognition.

“His family is getting all the information from us and others,” Brown said, “In my estimation, Sam is a first-round pick. Our job is to give him all the information we can, but we stay out of that decision.”

Brown and UNC will definitely have him for one more game, and Howell hopes to go out where and how he came in as a Tar Heel.

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Chansky’s Notebook: The Warrior

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