Sam Howell Named ACC Rookie, Offensive Rookie of the Year

Howell is UNC's first Rookie of the Year since Dre Bly.

After one of the greatest seasons from a North Carolina quarterback in program history, freshman Sam Howell was named the ACC's Rookie of the Year and Offensive Rookie of the Year on Wednesday.

Howell received 46 of 60 votes for the overall Rookie of the Year award and 54 votes for Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Take a look back at Howell's historic freshman season in photos.

The top-ranked player in Carolina's 2019 recruiting class, the 6-0, 225-pound Howell won the starting job midway through preseason training camp and never looked back, completing 15 of 24 attempts for 245 yards and two touchdowns in the season-opening win over South Carolina.

The performance was only a preview of things to come, as Howell completed 234 of 388 attempts for 3,347 yards and 35 touchdowns with seven interceptions.

His 35 touchdown passes, most ever by a true freshman in NCAA football, are a new Carolina single-season record, while his completions, attempts and yards are all freshman records while his yardage mark currently ranks fourth among all single-season performances for Tar Heel quarterbacks.

Howell, Carolina's first ACC Rookie of the Year since Dre Bly in 1996, has thrown at least two touchdown passes in all 12 of his starts this season, tying Ohio State's Justin Fields for the longest streak among FBS players.

Second in overall Rookie of the Year voting (seven), Miami defensive end Gregory Rousseau was the league's Defensive Rookie of the Year, while Louisville running back Javian Hawkins received four votes.

Clemson swept the ACC's overall Player of the Year awards, as running back Travis Etienne took home his second straight Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year awards, while linebacker Isaiah Simmons was named Defensive Player of the Year.

Carolina linebacker Chazz Surratt was second in the voting, receiving four votes for Defensive Player of the Year.