At the start of the new year, Gio Lopez was a South Alabama Jaguar.
At the beginning of spring practice, he was still a South Alabama Jaguar.
And when UNC practiced “like a pro” inside Kenan Stadium in April, Gio Lopez was – you guessed it – a South Alabama Jaguar.
It wasn’t until after the spring practice season had concluded that Lopez made his move, trading in the keys to a powerful Sun Belt offense for the unknown commodity of a UNC team featuring 70 newcomers.
There’s a level of confidence there, and also an enormous risk. Lopez is an Alabama native, starring at James Clemens High School in Madison, in the northern part of the state. Despite suffering a significant shoulder injury midway through his high school career, Lopez still received an offer from the Jaguars, and took it. Now, just two years later, the dual-threat southpaw has left his home state behind.
The guts to make such a move hasn’t gone unnoticed inside the Kenan Football Center. Lopez still hasn’t taken a single practice snap with the Tar Heels, but the team has nonetheless bonded with their potential starting quarterback.
“We’ll just get together and have throwing sessions,” said receiver Jordan Shipp. “Me and him, we talk every day. We hang out outside of practice. I’m at his house. He’ll come to my apartment. We just want to spend time together, grow that chemistry and that bond… I feel like we clicked very quickly.”
“Taking people to lunch, talking to them in the locker room, the little things matter,” Lopez told reporters at the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte last week. “Just being in the locker room a little longer than usual, talking to the guys when we’re conditioning or in the weight room… trying to lead in any way, shape or form I can and show up every day.”
Other outings include friendly competition at Topgolf, where Lopez may or may not have bested teammate and fellow transfer Christo Kelly.
“Very good club head speed,” Kelly remembered. “Violent with the hips. He hits it very hard. It was very impressive.”
For those teammates not lucky enough to see Lopez’s golf swing, their first exposure to the prized transfer haul will come when the program opens fall training camp in August. Lopez would appear to be the betting favorite to win the QB1 job; his closest competitors, Max Johnson and Bryce Baker, each have their own drawbacks. Johnson is still on the mend from a devastating leg injury suffered in Week 1 of the 2024 season, while Baker is just a true freshman.
But both of them have what Lopez does not: actual practice time with the team. How can one truly predict what the Tar Heels will look like this fall if their quarterback is yet to participate in a single official drill? His teammates have tried to get the scoop on Lopez in the only way football players know how: studying tape.
“He can spin it,” said defensive back Will Hardy. “I was watching film from his South Alabama days. Really good outside the pocket extending plays. The ball comes out of his hands very smoothly. He can really rip it.”
Hardy couldn’t resist adding a postscript: “Excited to pick him off in fall camp.”
UNC safety Will Hardy (#31) spoke highly of quarterback Gio Lopez at the ACC Kickoff: “He can really rip it.” (Image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati)
“I feel like he’s very underrated as a passer,” said defensive back Thad Dixon. “He’s really an exceptional arm talent. He gets a lot of credit for his running, but he’s very exceptional as a passer.”
Like Hardy, Dixon was not lacking for confidence in his upcoming battles with Lopez in camp: “I can’t wait to catch a couple. He’s gonna throw me a couple, at least.”
Lopez’s numbers with South Alabama are undeniably impressive: more than 3,000 total yards of offense and 25 total touchdowns in his lone season as a starter. His 65.9 completion percentage in 2024 ranked in the top 25 nationwide, above stars like Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Georgia’s Carson Beck and South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers. He threw just five interceptions in 312 attempts – 1.6 percent of his passes. For comparison, Lopez was just one-tenth of a percentage point shy of Heisman Trophy winner Cam Ward’s mark of 1.5 percent last season.
“I can make plays off-schedule,” said Lopez. “When plays break down, I can make a negative play not a negative play. Just make sure the play doesn’t go backward. Keep the chains moving forward.”
That is the man on whom the outcome of UNC’s 2025 season may very well depend. Of course, Lopez isn’t counting on waltzing into the QB1 job. He knows who his head coach is, after all.
“He really was straightforward and to the point,” Lopez remembered of his first conversation with Bill Belichick. “He told me, ‘If you’re willing to compete for a spot and want to play at a bigger program, you have that opportunity here.’
“Nothing was given to me, because I didn’t earn anything. I’m 20 years old. I’ve got a lot of life to still earn a lot of things. The opportunity was enough for me.”
That opportunity now involves a summer-long cram session, trying to essentially speed-read the playbook developed by Belichick and offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens.
“I’m a big flash card guy,” Lopez said. “Writing the name [of the play] on the front, flipping it on the back. Testing myself as much as I can… every day, going through the cards.”
Will it indeed be Lopez who takes the first snap of the 2025 season? With Belichick’s history of playing roster moves close to the chest, no one can truly know until the night of September 1. But we can still speculate: if and when Lopez does lead the Tar Heel offense, it will be on a stage completely alien to the man who played his home games in a 25,000-seat stadium last season. Kenan Stadium, one of the smaller venues among major college programs, doubles that capacity. And it’s a safe bet that all 50,500 seats will be filled when UNC hosts TCU in Week 1. ESPN is bringing the heavy hitters, including former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, for the Monday night spectacle.
For now, still more than a month away from kickoff, Lopez is diligently working with his flash cards. But even in an activity as mundane as studying, the luxury of his new digs stands out.
“They give us iPads,” he said. “We didn’t get that at South Alabama.”
Featured image via South Alabama Athletics
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