Sam Howell, North Carolina Football News: Draft Scout Player News

09/12/21 - QB Sam Howell, Jr/2022, North Carolina

Sam Howell's reputation has largely been built on what he does throwing the football for No. 24 North Carolina. His footwork carrying the ball drew most of the attention Saturday night. Howell scored on two rushes to go with three touchdown throws as the Tar Heels beat Georgia State 59-17, shaking off the disappointment of an opening-game defeat. "I definitely think I have a lot of value in the running game," said Howell, a junior who's the school record-holder for touchdown passes. The most notable run was a career-long 62-yarder for a TD in the waning seconds of the third quarter. "I was real tired," Howell said. "When I was running, I was thinking, ‘Someone hasn't caught me from behind yet?' " Everyone seemed to notice. Coach Mack Brown said the staff needed to have oxygen ready for Howell on the sideline "because he had never run so far." Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott wasn't as amused. "Some of his runs there, he didn't do anything spectacular," Elliott said. "We're just not containing." Howell played a role in five of the Tar Heels' first seven touchdowns.

He completed 21 of 29 passes for 352 yards without an interception. He was picked off three times in a 17-10 setback at Virginia Tech in the team's opener a week earlier. "(It can be) a reality check," Howell said. "Go back to work and that's what we did. … We were able to come out there in the second half and play Carolina football." Howell was the game's leading rusher with 104 yards on 11 carries. His 22-yard scramble produced the game's first points. Georgia State (0-2) was held to 90 passing yards. Quarterback Cornelious Brown IV was12 for 26 for 68 yards. North Carolina's lead was 24-10 midway through the third quarter, before the Tar Heels (1-1) used a 28-point burst in about 9 1/2 minutes. - North Carolina/AP College Football

Jr/2022