UNC football makes list of Top 10 choices for Class of 2026 quarterback

Three weeks ago, the UNC football program beat out a number of college football blue bloods for the services of one of the best tight ends in the Class of 2025, Marshall Pritchett. That alone should prove how much Mack Brown has burnished the Tar Heels' gridiron pedigree during his second stint in Chapel Hill.

Another reminder came on Thursday when one of the top quarterbacks in the Class of 2026 announced UNC football was on his Top 10 list. Namely, Noah Grubbs of Lake Mary, Florida, a suburb of Orlando.

Grubbs announced his decision on X/Twitter just after lunch on Thursday.

The other schools on that list are a virtual who's-who of college football elites: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Miami, Auburn, Michigan, Florida, Texas A&M, Nebraska, and Grubbs' hometown school, UCF.

UNC football extended an offer to Grubbs on December 8 after Grubbs completed a strong sophomore season at Lake Mary High. He completed 208 out of 354 passes while throwing just six interceptions. His 3,670 passing yards ranked second in the state. He threw for 49 touchdowns, the fifth-most in Florida, and ran for four more. Almost half of his passing touchdowns came in his first four games, and for much of the season, he was a threat to break the state record for touchdown passes held by current Clemson quarterback Tucker Israel.

He led the Rams to a 10-2 record and the top spot in the USA Today Florida Network Class 4M Poll. They were the top overall seed in the class heading into the state playoffs but were crippled by a rash of injuries in the first round and lost to Jacksonville's Mandarin High in the regional semifinals--the same team that they beat 34-16 in the regular season.

According to Irish Sports Daily, Grubbs has been playing at a very high level since his days in Pop Warner football. He was so talented that he played with kids a year older than him from the time he was five until he entered eighth grade. For seven years, his offensive coordinator was former UCF great Tyson Hinshaw, who had Grubbs learn a playbook almost as large as the one used by Tyson's brother, Darin, as UCF's offensive coordinator. It worked; his team won national Pop Warner titles in 2019 and 2020. According to Grubbs' father, Ephraim, Hinshaw taught his son early on how to "distribute the ball" and do "small reads to a side of the field."

Since eighth grade, Grubbs has been training at Baylin Trujillo's quarterback academy. Trujillo has honed Grubbs' skills so well that he took the starting job at Lake Mary and hasn't let it go since. Rivals currently rank him as the 44th overall prospect in the Class of 2026 and the third-best quarterback.

According to QB Hit List, Grubbs is very big and very fast at 6-4 and 205 pounds. He has a very strong and precise delivery, with solid mechanics. He also goes through his progressions in a way you don't normally see from a sophomore. He's also a solid student, with a 3.6 GPA. It goes without saying that Grubbs would be a huge get for UNC football.