Bill Belichick has a promising assessment of Gio Lopez after Week 3 win

It's been a slow progression for Gio Lopez through three games as the Tar Heels starting quarterback, but Bill Belichick sees a lot of positive signs ahead.

The Tar Heels coach continues to endorse Lopez as the starting quarterback and believes that he is getting better as he finds more comfort in the offense and with his teammates. 

After a disastrous opener against TCU, Lopez has found success against weaker opponents Charlotte and Richmond. In those two games, Lopez has completed nearly 63 percent of his passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns. He has also rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown. 

The passing game is starting to come around

Belichick said the key to Lopez's passing improvements has come down to timing and anticipation.

"When the ball comes out on time, there’s confidence. And so I think a couple of Gio’s throws, like to Jake (Johnson), came out real quick. They got there just in time. And Jake was able to squirt forward for a first down a couple of times," Belichick said. "Things like that where, if you just hesitate another split second, maybe he makes a catch, maybe doesn’t get that extra two yards for the first down, things like that. So those are just there’s a difference between anticipating the receiver being open and then seeing him open and then throwing the ball."

Lopez spoke about his growth in the offense during his post-game press conference after the Tar Heels' 41-6 win over Richmond. He said that continuing to practice is key, and it's important to learn from the mistakes and build off the positive results. 

"I think every day counts. Practice counts. Meetings count. Just everything we do together counts," Loppez said. "As an offense, we're just gelling more and more. There’s stuff I just have to clean up. Everyone can be a lot better. I have to be better myself. A positive, I’d say, just kind of committing to the offense and being able to talk to everybody and help people when they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Lopez's early struggles have led fans to speculate if the Tar Heels offense wouldn't be more effective with Max Johnson leading the charge. The redshirt junior admits to hearing the rumbles, but he isn't letting it bother him. 

"Of course, we have a lot of outside noise, we try not to listen to it. I think, offensively, we just didn't show up for the TCU game, but the best thing that could happen for us was that we had a short week going to Charlotte," Lopez added. "We got some more confidence going and overall I'm happy with how we're showing up every day."