Sam Howell

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Sam Howell
Sam Howell.jpg
Howell with North Carolina in 2019
North Carolina Tar Heels – No. 7
PositionQuarterback
ClassJunior
Personal information
Born: (2000-09-16) September 16, 2000 (age 21)
Waynesville, North Carolina
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight220 lb (100 kg)
Career history
College
Bowl games
High schoolSun Valley (Monroe, North Carolina)
Career highlights and awards
  • Second-team All-ACC (2020)
  • Third-team All-ACC (2019)
  • ACC Rookie of the Year (2019)
  • ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year (2019)
  • USA Today Freshman All-American (2019)[1]
  • Military Bowl MVP (2019)

Sam Howell (born September 16, 2000) is an American football quarterback for the North Carolina Tar Heels. He is the holder of several Tar Heel records, including most passing yards in a career (10,283), total touchdowns (109), touchdown passes (92) and touchdown passes in a single season (38).

Early years[]

Howell was born on September 16, 2000, in Waynesville, North Carolina. He later attended and played high school football at Sun Valley High School in Monroe, North Carolina, where he threw for 13,415 yards and 145 touchdowns, while rushing for 3,621 yards and 60 touchdowns.[2] After a highly publicized recruitment, Howell committed to the University of North Carolina on Early Signing Day for the 2019 class, flipping his commitment from Florida State University, his original choice.[3]

College career[]

Freshman[]

Howell entered his true freshman season at North Carolina competing with redshirt freshmen Jace Ruder and Cade Fortin for the starting quarterback position. Howell won the job in training camp, and became the first true freshman to start a season-opening game for the Tar Heels, opening his Tar Heel career against South Carolina.[4][5] He passed for 245 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-20 comeback victory over the Gamecocks in his debut.[6] Against NC State, Howell threw for 401 yards and three touchdowns in a 41–10 victory.[7]

Howell had a successful true freshman campaign, completing 234 of 388 attempts for 3,347 yards with 35 touchdowns and seven interceptions during the regular season. In the Tar Heels' bowl game, he threw for 294 yards and three more touchdowns in the 55–13 win over Temple in the 2019 Military Bowl. He earned Military Bowl MVP for his performance, which also included a two-yard touchdown reception on a trick play. Howell's 38 touchdown passes on the 2019 season were single-season records both at Carolina and at the FBS level of competition for a true freshman quarterback.[8]

His yardage and touchdown totals were also the highest in the ACC for the 2019 season. At the conclusion of the season, Howell was named to the All-ACC third team. He was also named ACC Rookie of the Year and a freshman All-American.[9][1] His 3,641 passing yards in 2019 rank second all-time in North Carolina history for a single season.

Sophomore[]

Going into his second season as a Tar Heel, Howell received significant national attention. He was named to the Maxwell Award, Manning Award, and Davey O'Brien Award watch lists in the preseason.[10] He started the season off slowly against Syracuse and Boston College, but set a career high for passing yards with 443 in the 44–41 loss against Virginia, earning ACC Player of the Week honors in the process.[11] Two games later, against Wake Forest, he broke multiple school records, and set another career high for passing, in the Tar Heels' 59-53 comeback victory. Howell threw for 550 yards and 6 touchdowns, ran for another, and led the explosive Tar Heel offense to a school record 742 yards of total offense in the game.[12] Howell also recorded his second career touchdown catch in the blowout 62–26 victory over the Miami Hurricanes. Both of Howell's touchdown receptions in his Tar Heel career were thrown by wide receiver Rontavius "Toe" Groves and came on adaptations of the famous Philly Special play.

Howell's performance in the 2020 campaign put him in position to break several career records for the Tar Heels, and he earned Second team All-ACC honors in the process. In the Orange Bowl, Howell's three touchdown passes tied him with Darian Durant's mark of 68 career passing scores, the most in program history. His 2020 passing totals moved him to fifth all time in program history for passing yards at 7,227.

Junior[]

Much like the preseason of his sophomore year, Howell received significant praise going into his junior campaign, being named to multiple award watchlists and garnering very early NFL draft speculation.[13] Against Virginia Tech in the season opener, Howell threw his 69th touchdown pass, giving him sole possession of the school record for passing touchdowns in a Tar Heel career. He also threw 3 interceptions in North Carolina's 17–10 loss, the most interceptions in a single game of his collegiate career.[14] Against Georgia State in week two, Howell threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 104 yards and two more scores, becoming the second quarterback in Tar Heel history to throw for 300+ yards and rush for 100+ yards in the same game (Marquise Williams was the first, against Notre Dame in 2014).[15]

The next week against Virginia, Howell threw for 307 yards, five touchdowns and an interception, while also rushing for 112 yards, becoming the second Power 5 quarterback to post back-to-back 300+ passing and 100+ rushing yard performances since 2004, joining Lamar Jackson.[16] His performance against the Cavaliers moved him past Marquise Williams for fourth all-time in passing yards at the school, and into fourth in school history with 8,526 yards of total offense, passing Bryn Renner. In the Tar Heels upset loss against Georgia Tech, Howell threw for 306 more yards and two more scores, extending his passing touchdown record and passing Renner again, this time for third all-time in Tar Heel passing yards. Against Miami, Howell extended his all-time passing touchdown mark to 86, and added two more rushing touchdowns in the 45-42 Tar Heel victory, putting him only two total touchdowns behind Marquise Williams' school record of 99. Against Notre Dame, he threw for one score and ran in another, tying Williams' mark and, including his two career receiving touchdowns set a school record, being responsible for 101 touchdowns to that point in his college career.[17]

Howell threw two more touchdown passes in the Tar Heels' overtime loss to Pittsburgh, extending his school record to 90. However, on the last play of the game in overtime, he suffered an injury to his non-throwing shoulder, causing him to miss the first game of his Tar Heel career against Wofford.[18] Prior to the Wofford game, Howell was recognized along with twenty-one other Tar Heel players as part of the school's Senior Day festivities despite not having made a final decision whether or not to forgo his remaining eligibility and enter the 2022 NFL Draft. He was replaced by backups Jacolby Criswell and Drake Maye, who threw for a combined 214 yards and one score in the 34-14 win.

He made his return in the dramatic 34-30 loss to N.C. State, throwing for 147 yards, one touchdown, and an interception. He also had two rushing touchdowns in the game. He extended his passing touchdown record to 91, and his total touchdown record at Carolina to 108. With his performance, Howell became the first UNC quarterback to throw for 10,000 yards in a career and just the eighth ACC quarterback to reach the mark.[19]

After speculation that Howell would opt-out of the Duke's Mayo Bowl to prepare for the NFL Draft, Howell denied the rumors in a tweet, signaling his intentions to play one more game.[20] In his final start for the Tar Heels, Howell had 12 completions for 205 yards and a touchdown in the 38–21 loss to South Carolina. Howell threw his 92nd career touchdown pass in the game, extending his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown pass. He threw at least one touchdown in every game he started at quarterback while at UNC. Howell made the first and last starts of his career against the same team (South Carolina), in the same stadium (Bank of America Stadium).

On January 1, 2022, Howell announced that he would forgo his remaining college eligibility and enter the 2022 NFL Draft.[21]

Statistics[]

See also: North Carolina Tar Heels football statistical leaders
Season Games Passing Rushing Receiving
GP GS Cmp Att Pct Yds Y/A TD Int Rtg Att Yds Avg TD Rec Yds Avg TD
2019 13 13 259 422 61.4 3,641 8.6 38 7 160.2 94 35 0.4 1 3 23 7.7 1
2020 12 12 237 348 68.1 3,586 10.3 30 7 179.1 92 146 1.6 5 1 1 1 1
2021 12 12 217 347 62.5 3,056 8.8 24 9 154.2 183 828 4.5 11 0 0 0 0
Career[22] 37 37 713 1117 63.8 10,283 9.2 92 23 164.2 369 1009 2.8 17 4 24 6 2

Personal life[]

Howell is of partial Korean descent, his grandfather having met his grandmother while stationed there in the late 1960s.[23]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Sam Howell, Derek Stingley lead USA TODAY Sports freshman All-America team". usatoday.com. December 13, 2019.
  2. ^ "Sam Howell Finishes as Highest Ranked UNC QB Recruit Since Bryn Renner". Chapelboro.com. January 24, 2019.
  3. ^ Sun Valley QB Sam Howell ‘flips’ from one ACC school, chooses another
  4. ^ "UNC to start freshman Howell at quarterback". ESPN.com. August 26, 2019.
  5. ^ Observer (Raleigh), Jonathan M. Alexander The News &. "True freshman Howell to start for UNC against South Carolina". Winston-Salem Journal.
  6. ^ Sam Howell had the best QB debut at Bank of America Stadium since Jake Delhomme
  7. ^ "UNC defeats NC State 41-10 to become bowl-eligible". ESPN.com. November 30, 2019.
  8. ^ "How Does Sam Howell's Freshman Season Stack Up vs. Heisman Winners, Other Top QBs?". SI.com. December 10, 2019.
  9. ^ "Clemson Leads 2019 All-ACC Football Team". TheACC.com. December 3, 2019.
  10. ^ "Sam Howell named to Manning Award watch list". chapelboro.com. July 31, 2020.
  11. ^ "Sam Howell, Dyami Brown Earn ACC Player of the Week Honors". chapelboro.com. November 3, 2020.
  12. ^ "Sam Howell goes off for seven total TDs, throws for 550 yards as North Carolina outlasts Wake Forest 59-53". USAToday.com. November 14, 2020.
  13. ^ Adam Smith (May 4, 2021). "Early projections put UNC QB Sam Howell among top prospects for 2022 NFL Draft". The Times News.
  14. ^ "UNC QB Sam Howell struggles in upset loss vs. Virginia Tech".
  15. ^ Zack Pearson (September 11, 2021). "Same Howell makes history against Georgia State". Keeping it Heel.
  16. ^ Bryan Ives [@awaytoworthy] (September 19, 2021). "Power 5 quarterbacks with back-to-back 300+ yard passing and 100+ yard rushing games since at least 2004...Lamar Jackson Sam Howell" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  17. ^ Carolina Football [@UNCFootball] (October 31, 2021). "Sam Howell has set a program record for career touchdowns responsible for. He is up to 101" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ^ "North Carolina Tar Heels QB Sam Howell out with upper-body injury vs. Wofford". ESPN. November 20, 2021.
  19. ^ Carolina Football [@UNCFootball] (November 27, 2021). "Sam Howell has become only the 8th QB in ACC history to throw for 10,000 passing yards" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ^ Sam Howell [@Sam7Howell] (December 8, 2021). "Catch y'all in Charlotte ;)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. ^ Martin, Ross (January 1, 2022). "UNC QB Sam Howell to Enter 2022 NFL Draft". 247 Sports. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  22. ^ "Sam Howell". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  23. ^ Pete Thamel (August 12, 2021). "On his Last Dance agenda: Carolina QB Sam Howell looks to take down Clemson and lead UNC to CFP". Yahoo!Sports.

External links[]

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