What does Phil Longo's history tell us about UNC's three-way quarterback battle?

CHAPEL HILL — With apologies to Sam Howell’s well-manicured beard, the only clear separation in Carolina’s quarterback competition lies in Jace Ruder’s bold — but still developing — mustache.

“I figured going into camp, you can’t have guys down, you need some electricity,” Ruder said on Tueday. “figured the mustache, the Fu Manchu, might help.”

Beyond that? The Tar Heels’ 11 practices have done little to sort out a three-man race that also includes redshirt freshman Cade Fortin.

“To be honest with you, I would have hoped maybe we were starting to have a little bit of a pecking order but they’re competing their tails off right now,” offensive coordinator Phil Longo said.

This, of course, is by design.

The competition began all the way back in spring practice, and with no plan to name a starter then, the quarterbacks were able to focus on getting a full grasp of the new offense while competing with one another daily. That’s only continued since the start of training camp.

“It’s awesome,” Fortin said. “I think it brings out the best in everyone. Whether or not somebody becomes the starter, you’re getting the best out of yourself, you’re competing at the highest level you can and you can’t take anything for granted.”

Not only does the competition allow all three quarterbacks to compete with one another on the field, but its given them all a sounding board and support system off it, as the three have become closer as they navigate a new offense under new coaches, as only Howell committed to Brown’s staff.

“It’s actually great because we’re all friends; that’s the good thing about it,” Ruder said. “There’s no bad blood, we’re helping each other out and holding each other accountable, and at the end of the day, we’re there for each other.”

It certainly doesn’t hurt as they adjust to Longo’s Air Raid attack, which he first began using after meeting offensive guru Mike Leach in 1996. Since then, Longo’s system has evolved to include a power running element that’s less common in the traditional version of the offense.

Longo’s version of the Air Raid has served Longo well, as Sam Houston State, an FCS program, led the nation in total offense in 2015 and 2016 before he took over at Ole Miss, where the Rebels ranked 18 in 2017 and 9 in 2018 against an SEC schedule.

The offense isn’t a massive departure from the system that the Tar Heels used during the Larry Fedora era, but there are a few key distinctions.

“It’s the same concepts, just a different way of thinking about it,” Fortin said. “Obviously, our tempo is way faster and the offense is (simplified), so we can run it faster, we can get the O-line up and they don’t have as many calls. The whole process of us getting the signal, getting lined up and running the play is faster.”

As highly-rated as Howell was coming out of Sun Valley High School, nothing had prepared him for the tempo he’d see during his first spring practice after he enrolled in January.

“I think I’ve come along well; I’m getting used to the speed of the game,” Howell said. “When I first got here in the spring, I’ll be honest with you, it was hard; it was a lot faster.”

Now up to speed, Howell is right in the thick of the quarterback race with Fortin and Ruder, who both got some game experience before redshirting last season.

While Longo praised all three for their mental approach to the game and leadership, he did point out differences in each player.

“Cade Fortin is probably our best pure-passer, if you want me to differentiate,” he said. “Jace Ruder might be the best overall athlete of the three and Sam may be the best combination of the two; maybe not as pure as a passer as Cade or as much of a runner as Jace, but he can do a little both.”

That means there’s no one-size solution for the three quarterbacks. After meeting as a group to discuss general concepts and offense, Longo spends time with each player, focused on each individual’s game.

“For me, he kind of focuses on more of the passing game,” Fortin said. “He’ll kind of just focus on our strengths, tell us what we need to get better at and it’s kind of more private so that he can really be honest with us and tell us what we can get better at.”

Just as there’s no one-size fit for how Longo works with his quarterback, there’s no one-size fit for a quarterback in his offense.

At SHSU, he had quarterback Jared Johnson throw for 3,054 yards and 21 touchdowns while rushing for 999 yards in 2014, then two seasons later, Jeremiah Briscoe threw for 4,602 yards and 57 touchdowns while ending up with negative yardage as a runner.

At Ole Miss, Longo’s offenses were led by Shea Patterson, a pocket passer, and Jordan Ta’amu, who threw for 3,918 yards and rushed for another 342 last season.

On two occasions — once at SHSU and once at Ole Miss — Longo has had two quarterbacks play major roles in the same season.

The only constant has been that, other than Johnson, each of his starting quarterbacks have completed at least 62 percent of their attempts and his offenses have put up points — lots of them — with an average scoring rank of 18.2 over the past five seasons.

Brown said at the beginning of camp, he expects they’ll begin to see some separation at quarterback after the second scrimmage, which is set for Saturday. As of now, there’s no indication of which way its’ going.

“Coach Longo said the three of us, we’re all even right now,” Ruder said. “We all have different games, we all bring different things to the table and it’s just going to come down to the last minute.”

And that’s fine by Howell.

“I wouldn’t say it’s stressful,” he said. “This is what I love to do; I can’t complain. I’m at a Power Five, Division I football team and I’m competing for the starting quarterback. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

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