Bill Belichick pressed for comment on when he plans to name North Carolina starting quarterback

Bill Belichick remains tight-lipped on his timeline to name a starting quarterback for North Carolina. The first-year Tar Heels coach was asked when he thought he would know by in a press conference Wednesday, but shut down the question with a sarcastic reply.

“We’re getting ready to do that this afternoon — to announce the starting lineups and the play times and how we’ll be substituting everything,” Belichick joked. “So Brandon will get that to you as soon as we get done. We want to make sure we get that out there right away.”

UNC has a little less than two weeks until it kicks off the Belichick era with a contest against TCU on Labor Day. Veteran Max Johnson and South Alabama transfer Gio Lopez are currently in competition for the job.

Johnson is in his sixth college season with previous stops as a starter at LSU and Texas A&M. His career has unfortunately been riddled with injuries, including one he suffered in the season opener after winning the job for the Tar Heels this past year. His experience is a valuable trait that Belichick will have to consider.

Lopez also has starting experience, albeit at a lower level of competition. This past season at South Alabama, he threw for 2,559 yards and 18 touchdowns to five interceptions in addition to 463 yards rushing and seven touchdowns.

Although Belichick didn’t want to give an exact timeline to name a starting quarterback for North Carolina, he was willing to open up a little more in a follow up question about his evaluation process. He allowed a peek into his mind as to how he looks at all position battles.

“There’s no doubt some players have separated themselves from others,” he said. “That’s a big part of what last week and this week are really about are the evaluations and the separation. Who’s earned playing time? Who’s earned positions and who hasn’t? I think that will be finalized at a later point in time, but certainly there’s starting to be some separation and experience can be a big factor in that. That’s always a hard one when a player who’s maybe less talented but more experienced outperforms a player who’s less experienced and more talented.

“You, as a coach, wonder what will happen when that less experienced player gains the experience because he has more talent and maybe more potential. When do those lines cross and when does the younger, less experienced player overtake the other one? …So we’ll just see how that all works out. But there’s definitely some separation that’s occurred. I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple of things change from where we are now to a week from now. But we’ll just have to see how that turns out. I can’t tell you how players are gonna perform. That’ll be up to them.”