UNC Football Position Preview: Quarterback

We break down the quarterback position for the UNC Football program as we preview the 2018 season for the Tar Heels

Last season University of North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Larry Fedora had all offseason to make a decision on a starting quarterback. Going into the season opener, Fedora still didn’t have a clear-cut starter as both Brandon Harris and Chazz Surratt played in the Week 1 game.

Fedora has faced a similar situation for the leader of his offense in 2018 but due to some circumstances, the coaches decision has already been made.

After the program announced the suspension of 13 football players, including Surratt, for selling team-issued shoes, Fedora came out and announced that Nathan Elliott would be the starter for the Week 1 game at Cal.  Surratt’s suspension is four games, meaning he will miss significant time at the beginning of the year and it will essentially be Elliott’s job to lose.

We’d guess that Fedora doesn’t want to have a quarterback controversy on his hands after shuffling through three different starters last season, so he will likely stick with Elliott barring any major injury. However, nothing is off the table for this team and it wouldn’t shock us if Surratt challenged Elliott for the starting spot when he does return.

Either way, the quarterback position will be key this season for UNC. Both have shown flashes of being good starters for the future.

2017 Review

As we mentioned up top, Fedora didn’t name a clear-cut starter right away for the Tar Heels and instead waited until Week 1 to play both quarterbacks.

It didn’t really work out in his favor.

All three quarterbacks that saw significant action struggled at times but both Surratt and Elliott showed some promise throughout the year. The former LSU graduate transfer, Brandon Harris, was set to play one year at UNC so the future for him was not there with the program.

Elliott started the final three games of the season, leading UNC to two wins in that span including their only ACC win over Pitt on a Thursday night. The sophomore finished with 926 passing yards and 10 touchdowns, including 4 against Western Carolina.

After those three games, Elliott inserted himself into the quarterback competition for 2018.

While Elliott started the final three games, Surratt appeared in 9 games and started 7 of them for the Tar Heels in 2018. The Denver, North Carolina native completed 107 of 183 attempts for a team-high 1,342 passing yards in 2017.

Surratt showed flashes of being the quarterback of the future by making some plays with both his arm and feet. He has the ability to keep plays alive by scrambling but couldn’t cut back on all of the bad plays. The quarterback found himself at times forcing throws and making mistakes.

Depth Chart

Going into training camp the presumed QB depth chart is as follows:

First string: Nathan Elliott, Chazz Surratt

Second string: Jace Ruder

Reserves: Jack Davidson, Manny Miles, Cade Fortin.

Obviously, with the suspension of Surratt, Elliott is now the starter with Ruder likely getting the reps with the second string in camp. We will keep Surratt on the first string line even when he does return.

Don’t expect the depth chart to change much this year barring any injuries to Elliott or Surratt. But if that did happen, we’d have to guess that Ruder or Davidson would be next in line. Fedora and his staff might not want to turn to a true freshman like Ruder right away until he’s had more time to learn the offense.

What to expect?

This will certainly be an interesting year for the Tar Heels in general. The program is still trying to rebuild after a disaster of a season last year and to get the offense on track it will all start with the quarterback position.

There’s some talent on the offense at key positions like running back, wide receiver and tight end but it will be up to both Elliott and Surratt to help get things going.

The key early on will be protecting the football.

Elliott will face a four-game stretch with games at Cal, at ECU, vs. UCF and vs. Pitt early on in the season. If UNC can somehow find a way to go 3-1, it would be considered a big win for the program. But to do so, they are going to have to get good play from the quarterback position and that includes not turning it over.

UNC’s offense will want to get the ball into the hands of players like Anthony Ratliff-Williams, Dazz Newsome and Michael Carter Jr. A healthy run game will help Elliott but right now there’s a lot of pressure on him to succeed and get UNC off to a good start.

As for Surratt, the big question will be how much playing time will he get when he returns. The quarterback is eligible to return for UNC’s Thursday night game vs. Miami but will he actually play?

If Elliott performs well, I don’t see Surratt getting much time early on. It would likely take a bad performance from Elliott this year or an injury to sideline him.

Now, that doesn’t mean we won’t see Surratt. Fedora could turn to Surratt for a few series a game this year even if Elliott is playing fine. The head coach could mix it up a bit like he’s done in the past as Surratt gives them some mobility at the position.

Who will have the biggest impact?

The answer here is obviously Elliott.

The ball is in his hands early on this year and he has the chance to take the starting job and never give it back. But in order to do that, he really has to play well in those first four games.

Elliott will face two defenses that like to play fast in Cal and UCF in his first four games. Cal finished 95th in the nation last year allowing 429.9 yards per game, while UCF was 93rd allowing 427.9 per game. There’s an opportunity to put up some yards against those defenses but the key will be getting the ball into the end zone.

The offense will go as Elliott goes and if he struggles early this year it could hurt his confidence.

Keep an eye on Elliott in those four games to see how he does. If he’s playing well, UNC could be in for a surprise season.