How does Sam Howell stack up in the nation and the ACC?

There is only one category in the national passing statistics through Saturday where UNC’s star freshman quarterback is not listed in the top 50 – accuracy. Howell has connected on 58.2 percent of his passes, which is good for No. 86 in the country.

LSU’s Joe Burrow is No. 1, completing 79 percent of his throws. Jamie Newman of Wake Forest leads the ACC with a 67.5 percentage. Jaren Williams of Miami is second with 67 percent, followed by Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence at 66 percent and Virginia’s Bryce Perkins at 64 percent, which we saw in action Saturday night in Kenan Stadium.

So that is something to work on for Howell, who interestingly is No. 1 in the ACC in touchdown passes and No. 5 nationally with 26 through nine games. That, plus he has the 11th most passing yards in major college football and leads the ACC with 2,472, indicates that Howell has a great touch with the long ball.  He is one of those quarterbacks who is more accurate the farther he throws it.

We saw that in action against Virginia with four touchdown passes that averaged better than 43 yards per heave. Howell throws a majestic spiral with almost perfect spin and loft, often dropping it right into the receiver’s hand, a thing of beauty.

That is also supported by Howell having the 17th-best stat in passing yards per game with an average of 274. In the ACC, Howell is No. 2 behind Wake’s Newman. He is also No. 3 in the ACC in completions per game to Newman and Perkins, rated No. 39 in the nation.

Other stats of note for Carolina’s freshman phenom are yards per pass attempt and passing efficiency, which I am not sure how the latter is calculated. Howell is in the top 30 in the nation and fourth in the ACC behind Newman, Lawrence and Williams. The top QB in the country in those categories is Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts, the Alabama transfer who is considered the front runner for the Heisman Trophy at his new school. Funny how that works.

So, all that translated, Mack Brown lured a high school star away from signing with Florida State who will be his franchise QB for at least three years. Howell’s accuracy will improve as he gets used to the speed of the college game and Brown brings in more offensive linemen to protect Howell and continue opening holes for the running game, which will make UNC’s passing attack even more effective next season.

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