Quarterback Commitment: Transfer Billy Edwards Joining Tar Heels

Just hours after the Transfer Portal opened on Friday, Wisconsin quarterback transfer Billy Edwards was in Chapel Hill officially visiting North Carolina. Sunday morning he committed to the Tar Heels, he confirmed to On3.

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Edwards, 6-foot-3, 228-pound Springfield, Va. native, entered the season as the Badgers’ starting quarterback after transferring from Maryland a year ago. However, a knee injury in the opener limited him to just 34 snaps.

After beginning his career at Wake Forest, Edwards spent three seasons at Maryland, including one as a starter in 2024, when he completed 65 percent of his passes for 2,881 yards, 15 touchdowns, and nine interceptions.

Edwards spent this past summer training under former UNC starting quarterback Bryn Renner, per a source. The two grew up in the same area of Virginia and have known each other since Edwards was a child.

The 2026 season will be Edwards’ final season of eligibility. He joins a UNC quarterback room that is also expected to include returning starter Gio Lopez, a rising junior, Au’Tori Newkirk, who saw minimal snaps as a true freshman last season, and incoming four-star recruit Travis Burgess. They’ll be coached by new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, who was hired last month but has not yet been officially announced.

“This year we have a better understanding of what’s in the portal — what could be in the portal — what kind of players we want from the portal that fit what we have to do here at North Carolina,” UNC general manager Michael Lombardi said after the season. “And so we have to be ready to be able to fill the spots that we have to and that’s why it’s really important to have a grading system, to have a personnel department so that we can sit there and honestly say … we need to get a better player.”

This offseason cycle features a single transfer portal window, which was moved back to Jan. 2 and will remain open through Jan. 16. Once in the portal, a player may directly communicate with and visit other programs.

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The window restricts entering the portal, but it does not dictate when a player must choose his next school, so at least from a retention standpoint UNC will know who isn’t leaving by the end of the window.

“The good thing about this year is, is when the portal ends the 16th, we will have our team,” Lombardi said. “We’ll have a team meeting on the 17th, and there’ll be no changes of that team. We’ll be able to build the culture. We’ll be able to build the continuity within the team.