With Drake Maye gone, North Carolina quarterback Conner Harrell gets his chance
Drake Maye is going to the NFL.
Max Johnson is coming in from Texas A&M.
But for now, for the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, Conner Harrell is North Carolina’s No. 1 quarterback and will be the starter against West Virginia in the Charlotte bowl game.
Harrell is more than ready. The redshirt freshman watched this past season as Maye took every meaningful snap as QB1. He studied how Maye prepared for games, how he handled himself in games.
“Drake’s consistency was off the charts,” Harrell said Wednesday.
Maye, a redshirt sophomore, announced this week that he had made the decision to enter the 2024 NFL Draft. He also said he would opt out of the Dec. 27 bowl at Bank of America Stadium.
Harrell is a smart guy — class valedictorian and a National Honor Society member at Thompson High in Alabaster, Alabama. With Johnson set to join the UNC program out of the transfer portal, Harrell realizes the bowl game can be a way of further establishing himself in the program and with offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey.
Johnson is 6-6 and 230 pounds, the son of former NFL quarterback Brad Johnson, a Super Bowl winner with Tampa Bay. The QB is a graduate transfer who has put in four years in the SEC — the first two seasons at LSU before going to A&M. He’s not coming to Chapel Hill to sit.
But Harrell’s mindset is that a bowl win and a good individual showing might give him an edge heading into UNC’s spring practice.
“Hundred percent, this is an opportunity to prove what I can do, how I can play,” Harrell said Wednesday after practice.
He’ll do all the necessary work. He’ll get a lot of practice reps. Come game time, he believes he’ll be set.
“I’m blessed to have the opportunity, blessed to be in this position. I have to take advantage of it,” he said. “I have to take advantage of every day, every practice.”
That means taking charge of the offense, not just running it.
“I’m trying to be a little louder, more vocal,” Harrell said. “I’m stepping into the position Drake left. Now it’s my turn to be loud and be that leader.”
Maye, who should be a high first-round NFL draft pick, isn’t the only one leaving and not playing in the bowl. Also entering the NFL draft are wide receiver Tez Walker and starting center Corey Gaynor.
Tight ends Bryson Nesbit and John Copenhaver have injuries and will miss the bowl. While wideout Kobe Paysour has returned from an injury and is participating in bowl practice, his availability for the bowl remains a wait-and-see thing.
But Harrell will have running back Omarion Hampton, the ACC’s leading rusher and a second-team All-America. Receiver J.J. Jones had a team-high 42 catches in 12 games — Walker had 41 grabs in his eight games — and gives the Heels a dependable intermediate and deep threat.
Can Harrell get the job done? UNC fans got only a cameos of him in four games this season, but two explosive plays against Campbell stood out: Harrell’s 61-yard touchdown run and a 41-yard TD pass to Chris Culliver.
“He always said if he got loose one time he was going to take it to the house, and he did that,” Maye said of the 61-yarder after the game. “He hit 21 miles per hour or something. I was glad to see him get in there and do his thing.”
Harrell made the most of his 11 snaps against Campbell, completing all four passes in the 59-7 win on Nov. 4 at Kenan Stadium.
“It was a snapshot of what I can do,” Harrell said. “But I feel like there’s a lot more.”
A snapshot? Asked to give a more detailed scouting report on himself, Harrell laughed.
“I feel I can do everything,” he said. “I’m athletic. I can throw. I can make every throw on the field. I can throw it deep, whatever.
“West Virginia doesn’t have much film. They’re going to have a tough time, not really knowing.”
If that came off a bit too cocksure, Harrell didn’t intend to be. He was just giving an honest assessment of his strengths as a quarterback, albeit one who will be making his first college start in a bowl game on ESPN.
“The best advice I’ve gotten is just to be me,” Harrell said. “I’ve played this sport for a long time and sometimes I overthink or might do this or do that. So the best advice I’ve gotten is ‘Be yourself.’”
Jones has been impressed with the way Harrell has embraced and handled the situation.
““He’s a true playmaker, using his feet or using his arm,” Jones said. “He’s got a lot of tools in the toolbox that people don’t know about. I don’t want people to think it’s a step down (from Maye). He’s ready for this moment and he has been prepared for this moment.”
North Carolina (8-4) vs West Virginia (8-4)
What: Duke’s Mayo Bowl
When: Dec. 27, 5:45 p.m.
Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte.
TV: ESPN
