Florida State has played four football games this season and started three different quarterbacks, and none of them, of course, are named Sam Howell.
The strong-armed sophomore instead makes his 17th straight start for North Carolina on Saturday night, when the fifth-ranked Tar Heels visit the struggling Seminoles in Atlantic Coast Conference football.
For Howell, it’s a first-time meeting with the program to which he once was committed as a high school star, and a reunion of sorts that provides another overall example of North Carolina’s quickly assembled dominoes that are engineering a rapid revitalization under Mack Brown.
In December 2018, three weeks after the veteran Brown became coach of the Tar Heels for the second time in his career, Howell, then a senior at Sun Valley High School in Monroe, flipped his college choice from Florida State to North Carolina.
He changed course to join Brown and offensive coordinator Phil Longo, both of whom moved swiftly to make it happen, and decided against sticking with the Seminoles and coach Willie Taggert, who later was fired by Florida State after less than two seasons on the job.
“We had some good quarterbacks here,” Brown said this week, “but when I watched Sam, he was just so special, and I saw what we’re seeing now. That was it.
“And he also was a huge name in the state that was a great player, so for us to get accomplished what we need to get accomplished, we wanted to go back to work and start dominating our state in recruiting. We thought he was a key for that, because if he came, then some other guys would consider coming. We felt like he was really, really important for us for a lot of reasons.”
The Tar Heels went 7-6 last season with Howell operating the controls as a true freshman starter. This season, North Carolina has gotten off to a 3-0 start for the first time in nine years.
Howell claimed the ACC’s Offensive Rookie of the Year honor in 2019, after completing 61.4 percent of his passes for 3,641 yards and 38 touchdowns, against just seven interceptions. He’s completing 68.7 percent of his throws through three games this season, for 777 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions.
Meanwhile, Jordan Travis is set to receive his second starting assignment at quarterback for Florida State on Saturday night. The Seminoles already have used James Blackman and Alex Hornibrook in the same capacity this season, coach Mike Norvell’s first year in charge.
“There really is no bad blood between me and the players,” Howell said this week of Florida State. “It’s a different coaching staff. I still have a lot of respect for those guys down there, and I still pull for those guys every week unless they’re playing us. I’m definitely excited to go and play against some of those guys. I know a lot of guys on that team, so it’ll definitely be a fun matchup.
“They’re a really good team, and their record doesn’t show how good they are. They’re very talented. I think this is probably the most talented team we’ve played so far. So it’s a great matchup for us and we’ve got to be prepared.”
Here are some other areas worth watching Saturday night as the Tar Heels (3-0 overall, 3-0 ACC) tangle with Florida State (1-3, 0-3), which has suffered league losses to Georgia Tech, Miami and Notre Dame:
OUT OF THE GATE
North Carolina has started all three games this season by scoring a touchdown on its opening possession, including its first two drives two weeks ago at Boston College and first three last week against Virginia Tech.
Each of the Tar Heels’ opening drives has covered at least 10 plays and 65 yards.
North Carolina rocketed ahead of Virginia Tech 21-0 during the first 11 minutes, producing three touchdowns and 224 total yards on their first three possessions of that game.
“It’s our mentality coming out that we want to set the tone,” Howell said. “Me personally, I like getting the ball first, I don’t like deferring to the second half. I like to get the ball and go ahead and set the tone. That’s kind of what we talk about right before we go out onto the field, just setting the tone for the game. And after that, if we score on the first drive, it kind of just gives our offense a sign of confidence, knowing that we can go down and put a drive together and score.”
SCHOOL DAZE
The 69-year-old Brown, in his 32nd season as a college head coach, has collected 254 victories and the 2005 national championship across the course of his Hall of Fame career.
But through the years, his teams never have beaten Florida State, his alma mater. He’s 0-9 all-time against the Seminoles, including 0-6 during his first stint at North Carolina from 1988-97.
Brown’s Tulane teams lost three matchups with Florida State in the 1980s. The last time North Carolina held a national ranking among the top five, a showdown game in November 1997 ended in a loss to third-ranked Florida State. Brown departed the Tar Heels the following month to take the Texas job.
HANKY PANKY
Penalties have proven to be a recurring problem for Florida State and North Carolina.
The Seminoles are averaging more than nine penalties per game, costing them more than 81 yards per game, to check in near the bottom of the 76 teams in the bowl subdivision currently playing this season.
But the Tar Heels have been even worse, ranking 68th in penalties (9.7 per game) and 73rd in penalty yards (91.3 per game). North Carolina was penalized 10 times for 87 yards during last week’s defeat of Virginia Tech.
“It’s there, it’s real, it’s ugly,” Brown said, “and I told the guys, ‘We can’t be considered a disciplined team with a bunch of penalties.’ I said, ‘We act like we are and we’re not having turnovers, but come on, man.’
“We have officials at every practice. We have them call every penalty, and we document every one of them. We show it to them on video, and the penalties you have in practice are the ones that show up in a game.”
This article originally appeared on Times-News: UNC’s visit to Florida State reunites QB with team he chose before Tar Heels
