Previewing UNC's Quarterback Opponents: Road Edition

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — As Bill Belichick and his staff continue to evaluate North Carolina’s quarterbacks, other schools on UNC’s schedule are finalizing their QB plans as well. 

North Carolina kicks off the season next week, when it hosts TCU on Labor Day. The team will alternate home and road games after that, as UNC will face Charlotte on Sept. 6.

Currently, only one of the six teams UNC is playing on the road will start a player who started at quarterback for that team the previous season. All the others will be transfers except for one ACC freshman. Each of the potential quarterbacks brings a different level of collegiate and starting experience to the forefront.

Here’s a quick look at the six projected starting quarterbacks that UNC will face away from Kenan Stadium this season:

TBD — Charlotte, Sept. 6

North Carolina’s first road game of the season — which will be five days removed from the season opener against TCU — will take place at Jerry Richardson Stadium where the Tar Heels will take on the Charlotte 49ers.

No official starter has been named for Charlotte’s yet, but a trio of transfers — former UNC quarterback Conner Harrell, former Duke quarterback Grayson Loftis and former Southern Miss and JuCo quarterback Zach Wilcke — began competing for the QB1 spot in the spring, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Harrell began his career at UNC and, ironically, started against the 49ers in the second game of the season last year. He spent three seasons in Chapel Hill beginning in 2022. Drake Maye was UNC’s starter his first two years, and in 2024, he began the year as the backup to Max Johnson. After Johnson went down with his femur injury, Harrell came in and helped lead UNC to the opening-day win. He started against Charlotte and North Carolina Central before returning to the second-string spot, with Jacolby Criswell serving as the starter for the rest of the season. Harrell’s first career start came in the 2023 Duke’s Mayo Bowl.

Loftis was at Duke for two seasons. He received starting experience as a true freshman when Riley Leonard went down with an injury, entering the starting lineup for the final five games and going 3-2 in those outings. Loftis played in a double-overtime shootout against UNC in Kenan Stadium, throwing for 189 yards and three touchdowns in the 47-45 Tar Heel victory. As a starter, Loftis threw for 976 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions. In 2024, though, Loftis didn’t attempt a pass. Maalik Murphy was the team’s starter, with Henry Belin IV behind him.

Wilcke played his first two seasons at Southern Miss, starting eight games as a freshman and redshirting as a sophomore. In those eight starts, he went 5-3 while throwing for 1,163 yards, nine touchdowns and nine interceptions and completing 57.4% of his passes. He played the 2024 season at Northwest Mississippi CC and started every game for the 10-2 squad. He threw for 2,051 yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He connected on 57.9% of his throws.

Max Brown and Deshawn Purdie both took snaps at quarterback in last season’s game against the Tar Heels, an outing UNC won 38-20. Brown is now at West Virginia, and Purdie is now at Wake Forest.

Cam Fancher — UCF, Sept. 20

Cam Fancher is expected to be UCF’s starting quarterback entering 2025, per On3’s Pete Nakos. UNC’s matchup against the Knights will be the team’s first game outside the state of North Carolina this season.

Fancher, 6-foot-2, joined the team after playing three years at Marshall and, most recently, one season at FAU. Fancher started nine games at FAU last season and threw for 1,528 yards, going along with six touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 59.4% of his passes. He also rushed for 365 yards and three touchdowns. The Owls went 2-7 in Fancher’s starts.

Fancher began his career at Marshall in 2021. He played just two games as a freshman, but he started seven games the following season and went 6-1 in those games. He went 5-5 in 10 games as a starter in 2023 before hitting the transfer portal. His career totals with the Thundering Herd concluded with 3,766 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, 17 interceptions and a 61.1% completion percentage.

UCF didn’t have a potent passing attack in 2024, finishing 14th in the Big 12 in yards per game, and the Knights lost each of their players who recorded at least 100 receiving yards from last season. UCF had the top rushing offense in the Big 12, but it lost running back RJ Harvey to the NFL.

Fancher played high school football at Dayton (Ohio) Wayne, where he played football, basketball and track. He committed to Marshall as a three-star recruit. 

Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele — California, Oct. 17

UNC exits its second bye week to head out west and face California, a team that could have a true freshman behind center.

Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was named the team’s starter for the season opener by head coach Justin Wilcox, beating out Devin Brown, who transferred in from Ohio State. Sagapolutele initially committed to California but later signed with Oregon. In January, though, he ultimately transferred to California to play for the Golden Bears.

The 6-foot-3 Sagapolutele played at Ewa Beach (Hawaii) James Campbell and became the starter as a sophomore. He won Max Preps Player of the Year after throwing for 3,404 yards and 46 touchdowns.

Sagapolutele, a lefty, was a five-star recruit coming out of high school. He set the Hawaii high school record for career passing yards with 10,653 yards, surpassing now-Cleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel. 

Last season, the Golden Bears went 6-7 in their ACC debut. Trond Grizzell finished third on the team in receiving yards last year, and he’s the most productive returner in the team’s passing game from last season.

Steve Angeli — Syracuse, Oct. 31

Steve Angeli will start for the Orange to open the season. The Tar Heels will face Syracuse at JMA Wireless Dome on Halloween.

Angeli spent three seasons at Notre Dame, starting just one game in his 21 appearances. Drew Pyne, Sam Hartman and Riley Leonard were the Fighting Irish quarterbacks when Angeli was on the roster. Angeli transferred to Syracuse in the spring portal window.

With the Fighting Irish, Angeli recorded 772 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and one interception in three seasons. In his lone start against Oregon State in the Sun Bowl, Angeli went for 232 passing yards and three touchdowns while completing 15 of his 19 pass attempts (78.9%) in a 40-8 win. Last season, he came in briefly during the Orange Bowl vs. Penn State after Leonard went down with an injury. Angeli completed six of his seven passes for 44 yards before Leonard came back in the game. He also made a brief appearance in the national championship loss to Ohio State.

Angeli played high school football at Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic and committed to Notre Dame as a three-star recruit. He made the All-State team in New Jersey in 2021.

Syracuse finished 10-3 last season with a 5-3 ACC record. Kyle McCord quarterbacked the Orange and recorded an ACC single-season record 4,779 passing yards. Darrell Gill, Jr. and Umari Hatcher are the team’s most productive returners in the passing game. Gill, Jr. finished fourth on the team with 570 yards and Hatcher totaled 273.

Robby Ashford — Wake Forest, Nov. 15

Robby Ashford is slated to open the season as Wake Forest’s starting quarterback, per Deacons Illustrated’s Conor O’Neill. The trip to Winston-Salem will be the Tar Heels’ second-to-last road trip of the season.

Ashford spent two seasons at Oregon, two more at Auburn and last season at South Carolina. Ashford didn’t play a snap for the Ducks, and he arrived at Auburn in the 2022 season. He went 3-6 as a starter at Auburn in 2022 while posting 1,613 passing yards, seven touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 49.2% completion rate in 12 appearances. On the ground, he added 710 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns. He only started one game the following season and transferred to the Gamecocks.

Ashford backed up LaNorris Sellers in 2024, but he did start an early non-conference game against Akron in place of the then-injured Sellers. Ashford completed 15 of his 21 passes that day for 243 yards and two touchdowns along with 133 rushing yards and one touchdown.

The veteran quarterback has career totals of 2,082 yards, 11 touchdowns, nine interceptions, 1,154 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns in 30 games.

The 6-foot-2 Ashford attended Hoover (Ala.), where he recorded 1,088 yards and 10 passing touchdowns in six games as a senior. Ashford committed to Oregon as a four-star recruit.

The Demon Deacons’ offense returns running back Demond Claiborne, who led the team in offensive yards this season. Beyond that, the main contributors in the skill group positions look much different, especially among the top WRs in the group.

CJ Bailey — N.C. State, Nov. 29

UNC will close the regular season against a quarterback it already knows, as CJ Bailey returns to the Wolfpack for his sophomore season. 

Bailey didn’t open 2024 as the Wolfpack’s starter. Grayson McCall, who had transferred in from Coastal Carolina, was the day one starter. But a severe head injury McCall sustained in October against Wake Forest made Bailey, a true freshman at the time, the full-time starter to finish the season. Bailey came in against Wake Forest and put up 272 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in the narrow loss to the Demon Deacons.

From that point forward, Bailey went 3-4 as the team’s starter.

Bailey played 12 games last season and recorded 2,413 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He completed 64.9% of his passes and added five rushing touchdowns to his totals as well. After becoming the starter, he recorded at least 200 passing yards in five more games, with two games of 300+ passing yards. He started the regular season finale against UNC, a game the Wolfpack won 35-30 that ended in an on-field melee between the two teams.

Bailey came to N.C. State out of Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory. On3 touted him as a three-star prospect. He finished his high school career with 9,005 passing yards and 116 touchdown throws.

The Wolfpack brings back its top two receivers — tight end Justin Joly and wide receiver Noah Rogers — from last season. Wesley Grimes also returns after finishing fourth on the team in receiving yards.