Nathan Elliott is living out a longstanding dream as the Tar Heels' quarterback.
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
GoHeels Exclusive: Dream Fulfilled
August 31, 2018 | Football, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
Nathan Elliott might be just a few years old, but he already knows what he wants. The path to achieving it seems so simple.
It begins in the local Pee Wee football league and continues to Celina High School. The Bobcats boast eight state championships, tied for the most in Texas high school football history, and Nathan's father, Bill, is their head coach. Almost every day, Nathan joins his father at practices. He mimics the varsity players' every move. When he returns home, the reenactments continue.
Nathan hopes this prepares him for a successful high school career. That goal, however, is dwarfed by his ultimate one – becoming the starting quarterback at a prominent Division I school, namely Texas.
Several Celina boys share this dream. But few are as adamant about accomplishing it as Nathan. He tells his father about his ambitions. Around sixth or seventh grade, he reiterates them.
"If you really want to do that," Bill tells him, "then it's going to take some sacrifices."
Nathan makes many. Among them, he stops sleeping over at friends' houses on weekends. Instead, he wakes up early and goes to the practice field, where he works on refining his throwing motion. He spends weekdays after school doing the same. If weather disrupts his routine, he uses his high school's indoor facility and weight room.Â
Nothing will stand in the way of his goal. He's going to be a Division I starting quarterback.Â
And now, he will be.
When North Carolina opens its 2018 season at 4 p.m. Saturday at California, Nathan, a redshirt junior, will lead the Tar Heels' offense. He started the final three games of last season and helped UNC to two wins. But he was thrust into that position rather unceremoniously.
So since officially being named the team's starter on Aug. 6, he's found time to reflect.
"It's cool to look back," said Nathan earlier this week, "and see that the first part of my goal, my dream, is finally here."Â
His journey to this point wasn't always easy. At times, specifically during his freshman year, he doubted if he'd achieve his dream. It finally seemed attainable entering last season. But after feeling like he'd done enough through the spring and summer to earn starter consideration, he opened the year as the third quarterback on Carolina's depth chart.Â
Seven weeks passed before he saw the field. The support of his parents and teammates, though, kept his spirits high.
"Either way, I knew I was going to play eventually, whether it be here or if I did end up going somewhere else after I graduated," Nathan said. "I knew I was going to play. And I was just going to keep working like I was going to."
It's what he's always done.
Doing what was right
Bill never pushed football on Nathan, nor his younger brother, Caleb. But once they became enamored with the sport, he told them he'd make himself as accessible to them as they'd like, whether it be as a throwing companion, weight-lifting partner or anything else they needed.
Nathan welcomed it all, perhaps more than Bill expected.
"It was wearing me out," said Bill, who regularly came home from practices, only to return to the field with Nathan moments later for some extra work. "It was always that way. And as long as they wanted to do that, that was the way it was going to be."
Nathan started his football career as an offensive lineman. He was bigger than most of the kids on his Pee Wee team. But after constantly imploring his coach to move him to quarterback, his coach finally agreed.
Aside from a stint at running back around fifth or sixth grade, Bill said Nathan never played another position. He found success not by slinging the ball, but by picking defenses apart.
"He's always just had a mental edge," Bill said.
That surely developed from living with his father. But Nathan also immersed himself in football in other ways. One of those was by watching Colt McCoy, Texas' starting quarterback from 2006-09 and currently the backup for the Washington Redskins.
In "Growing Up Colt: A Father, a Son, a Life in Football," a biography written by McCoy and his father, McCoy detailed how he didn't drink soda and fell asleep each night by 9:30, among other habits. Nathan read the book in high school. Shortly after, he adopted those practices, as well. Even on vacations, everyone knew Nathan was going to bed at 9:30 p.m.
"He didn't care what anybody said or anybody thought about him," Bill said. "He was going to do what he knew was right, what he was supposed to do."
And it paid off.
Nathan established himself as Celina's starting quarterback during his freshman season. He started every game of his high school career. In 2012, before his sophomore campaign, he led the Bobcats to the Division II state 7-on-7 title.
Around that same time, colleges, mostly those in Texas and Oklahoma, started showing interest. Then one day, Bill received a call from Blake Anderson.
Anderson, then the Tar Heels' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, asked if he could come to Celina's practice and watch Nathan. He stayed the entire time. By the time Anderson left, he'd offered Nathan a scholarship.
As UNC further recruited Nathan, his relationship with Anderson grew, to the point that Bill thought Nathan would commit to Arkansas State after Anderson became the head coach there before the 2014 season. Keith Heckendorf joined Anderson's staff. But upon returning to Carolina a few months later, Heckendorf started developing a stronger bond with Nathan.
"When we were getting down to it," Bill recalled, "Nathan said, 'I want to go someplace where if football was taken away, I would still want to be there. North Carolina is that place. It feels like what a college ought to be, what a Division I college ought to be.'"
So Nathan committed to the Tar Heels before his senior year.Â
It marked a significant step in his path toward becoming a Division I starting quarterback. But earning that designation required patience.
Earning respect
For someone who wants to enter the coaching ranks one day, Nathan's first season in Chapel Hill expanded his football knowledge. He carefully studied Marquise Williams and Mitch Trubisky. He listened to Heckendorf's every word.
But despite already possessing an advanced football mind for his age, Nathan sometimes felt overwhelmed, much like any other freshman, as he progressed through his redshirt year in 2015.
"The level is so different when you first get here," he said. "I was like, 'I don't know if I can do this.'"
Still, he pressed on. He battled for the backup quarterback spot behind Trubisky before the 2016 campaign. Eventually, he won that job, thanks largely to his good decision-making.
When Trubisky chose to forego his final year of eligibly and enter the 2017 NFL Draft, Nathan, the Tar Heels' lone returning quarterback with any college experience, started asserting himself as a leader. During the team's summer running regimen, he was the one speaking up and pushing his teammates through the grueling heat.
"Having that gives you a lot of security," Anthony Ratliff-Williams said. "So if you need something – some extra help, some extra work, some extra film or anything like that – you have somebody you can call on. Nate was definitely that."
And he continued to be. Yet not in the role he expected to be in.
Entering last August, Nathan felt like he'd proven himself a worthy candidate for the starting quarterback job. He competed with Brandon Harris and Chazz Surratt for the position. But when the season began against California, Nathan was listed as the third-string quarterback. He didn't appear in a game until a Week 8 loss at Virginia Tech.
During his coaching tenure, Bill's experienced several conversations with players' parents about playing time. It was difficult for him to watch Nathan on the sidelines. He felt for his son. But in their regular phone calls, Bill remained stern with Nathan, too.
"You can keep on helping and keep working and keep pushing," Bill told him. "You never do anything that allows anyone to say anything bad about you. You represent our family name, you represent Celina, and you do what you've been taught to do."
So Nathan continued working. And when his time arrived, he'd be sure to definitively earn his team's respect.
That moment came on Oct. 28. After Surratt exited the game with an injury, Nathan took the field on UNC's third possession of a 24-19 loss against No. 8 Miami. He'd received limited reps until then. Still, he seemed unfazed by the Hurricanes' daunting defense, taking command of the offense and ultimately putting the team in position to win late.
With under three minutes left and Carolina 57 yards away from an upset-sealing touchdown, Nathan received the snap. He dodged a linebacker. Then he took off, scrambling to his left before turning upfield.
At Celina, Nathan and the rest of the quarterbacks often practiced drawing penalties on late hits out of bounds. So as he ran down the Tar Heels' sideline, he spotted Miami linebacker Zach McCloud. Nathan started to slow down. And he braced himself.
McCloud hit Nathan late out of bounds, resulting in a personal foul and moving UNC's offense across midfield. What Nathan didn't expect, though, is what came next. As he regained his footing, Nathan's teammates swarmed to his defense, shouting at McCloud and several other Miami players before Carolina's coaches intervened.
The Tar Heels lost that game. But they left it with more clarity at quarterback.
"When I felt that and saw them after I got hit out of bounds late and everyone on the team was running out there, that meant more than anything they could ever say," Nathan said. "That gave me a lot of confidence."
It's steadily grown since then.
'More comfortable'
In the final three games of last season, Nathan steered UNC to victories over Pittsburgh and Western Carolina. He totaled 752 passing yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions in that span. He also rushed for 65 yards.
His leadership, however, proved more valuable than anything. And entering Saturday's California game, now as the unquestioned starter, that's remained the case.
"He's much more comfortable at this time of the year than he was last year," Larry Fedora said recently. "He's more comfortable in the offense, he's more comfortable in the role. There's a better presence from him on the field and off the field. He's developed into a good leader, and he can do everything we need to run this offense."
Nathan doesn't claim to have the strongest throwing arm. He's heard the criticism about it, as well as other aspects of his game. But he understands his strengths. And of course, he's always trying to improve in any way he can.
Finally becoming a Division I starting quarterback hasn't changed who Nathan Elliott is.
"I got here off hard work and just continuously working every day," he said. "I know I'm not the most talented, biggest, fastest or strongest. But working hard is something I can control."
And it's what he'll always do.
Â
Nathan Elliott might be just a few years old, but he already knows what he wants. The path to achieving it seems so simple.
It begins in the local Pee Wee football league and continues to Celina High School. The Bobcats boast eight state championships, tied for the most in Texas high school football history, and Nathan's father, Bill, is their head coach. Almost every day, Nathan joins his father at practices. He mimics the varsity players' every move. When he returns home, the reenactments continue.
Nathan hopes this prepares him for a successful high school career. That goal, however, is dwarfed by his ultimate one – becoming the starting quarterback at a prominent Division I school, namely Texas.
Several Celina boys share this dream. But few are as adamant about accomplishing it as Nathan. He tells his father about his ambitions. Around sixth or seventh grade, he reiterates them.
"If you really want to do that," Bill tells him, "then it's going to take some sacrifices."
Nathan makes many. Among them, he stops sleeping over at friends' houses on weekends. Instead, he wakes up early and goes to the practice field, where he works on refining his throwing motion. He spends weekdays after school doing the same. If weather disrupts his routine, he uses his high school's indoor facility and weight room.Â
Nothing will stand in the way of his goal. He's going to be a Division I starting quarterback.Â
And now, he will be.
When North Carolina opens its 2018 season at 4 p.m. Saturday at California, Nathan, a redshirt junior, will lead the Tar Heels' offense. He started the final three games of last season and helped UNC to two wins. But he was thrust into that position rather unceremoniously.
So since officially being named the team's starter on Aug. 6, he's found time to reflect.
"It's cool to look back," said Nathan earlier this week, "and see that the first part of my goal, my dream, is finally here."Â
His journey to this point wasn't always easy. At times, specifically during his freshman year, he doubted if he'd achieve his dream. It finally seemed attainable entering last season. But after feeling like he'd done enough through the spring and summer to earn starter consideration, he opened the year as the third quarterback on Carolina's depth chart.Â
Seven weeks passed before he saw the field. The support of his parents and teammates, though, kept his spirits high.
"Either way, I knew I was going to play eventually, whether it be here or if I did end up going somewhere else after I graduated," Nathan said. "I knew I was going to play. And I was just going to keep working like I was going to."
It's what he's always done.
Doing what was right
Bill never pushed football on Nathan, nor his younger brother, Caleb. But once they became enamored with the sport, he told them he'd make himself as accessible to them as they'd like, whether it be as a throwing companion, weight-lifting partner or anything else they needed.
Nathan welcomed it all, perhaps more than Bill expected.
"It was wearing me out," said Bill, who regularly came home from practices, only to return to the field with Nathan moments later for some extra work. "It was always that way. And as long as they wanted to do that, that was the way it was going to be."
Nathan started his football career as an offensive lineman. He was bigger than most of the kids on his Pee Wee team. But after constantly imploring his coach to move him to quarterback, his coach finally agreed.
Aside from a stint at running back around fifth or sixth grade, Bill said Nathan never played another position. He found success not by slinging the ball, but by picking defenses apart.
"He's always just had a mental edge," Bill said.
That surely developed from living with his father. But Nathan also immersed himself in football in other ways. One of those was by watching Colt McCoy, Texas' starting quarterback from 2006-09 and currently the backup for the Washington Redskins.
In "Growing Up Colt: A Father, a Son, a Life in Football," a biography written by McCoy and his father, McCoy detailed how he didn't drink soda and fell asleep each night by 9:30, among other habits. Nathan read the book in high school. Shortly after, he adopted those practices, as well. Even on vacations, everyone knew Nathan was going to bed at 9:30 p.m.
"He didn't care what anybody said or anybody thought about him," Bill said. "He was going to do what he knew was right, what he was supposed to do."
And it paid off.
Nathan established himself as Celina's starting quarterback during his freshman season. He started every game of his high school career. In 2012, before his sophomore campaign, he led the Bobcats to the Division II state 7-on-7 title.
Around that same time, colleges, mostly those in Texas and Oklahoma, started showing interest. Then one day, Bill received a call from Blake Anderson.
Anderson, then the Tar Heels' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, asked if he could come to Celina's practice and watch Nathan. He stayed the entire time. By the time Anderson left, he'd offered Nathan a scholarship.
As UNC further recruited Nathan, his relationship with Anderson grew, to the point that Bill thought Nathan would commit to Arkansas State after Anderson became the head coach there before the 2014 season. Keith Heckendorf joined Anderson's staff. But upon returning to Carolina a few months later, Heckendorf started developing a stronger bond with Nathan.
"When we were getting down to it," Bill recalled, "Nathan said, 'I want to go someplace where if football was taken away, I would still want to be there. North Carolina is that place. It feels like what a college ought to be, what a Division I college ought to be.'"
So Nathan committed to the Tar Heels before his senior year.Â
It marked a significant step in his path toward becoming a Division I starting quarterback. But earning that designation required patience.
Earning respect
For someone who wants to enter the coaching ranks one day, Nathan's first season in Chapel Hill expanded his football knowledge. He carefully studied Marquise Williams and Mitch Trubisky. He listened to Heckendorf's every word.
But despite already possessing an advanced football mind for his age, Nathan sometimes felt overwhelmed, much like any other freshman, as he progressed through his redshirt year in 2015.
"The level is so different when you first get here," he said. "I was like, 'I don't know if I can do this.'"
Still, he pressed on. He battled for the backup quarterback spot behind Trubisky before the 2016 campaign. Eventually, he won that job, thanks largely to his good decision-making.
When Trubisky chose to forego his final year of eligibly and enter the 2017 NFL Draft, Nathan, the Tar Heels' lone returning quarterback with any college experience, started asserting himself as a leader. During the team's summer running regimen, he was the one speaking up and pushing his teammates through the grueling heat.
"Having that gives you a lot of security," Anthony Ratliff-Williams said. "So if you need something – some extra help, some extra work, some extra film or anything like that – you have somebody you can call on. Nate was definitely that."
And he continued to be. Yet not in the role he expected to be in.
Entering last August, Nathan felt like he'd proven himself a worthy candidate for the starting quarterback job. He competed with Brandon Harris and Chazz Surratt for the position. But when the season began against California, Nathan was listed as the third-string quarterback. He didn't appear in a game until a Week 8 loss at Virginia Tech.
During his coaching tenure, Bill's experienced several conversations with players' parents about playing time. It was difficult for him to watch Nathan on the sidelines. He felt for his son. But in their regular phone calls, Bill remained stern with Nathan, too.
"You can keep on helping and keep working and keep pushing," Bill told him. "You never do anything that allows anyone to say anything bad about you. You represent our family name, you represent Celina, and you do what you've been taught to do."
So Nathan continued working. And when his time arrived, he'd be sure to definitively earn his team's respect.
That moment came on Oct. 28. After Surratt exited the game with an injury, Nathan took the field on UNC's third possession of a 24-19 loss against No. 8 Miami. He'd received limited reps until then. Still, he seemed unfazed by the Hurricanes' daunting defense, taking command of the offense and ultimately putting the team in position to win late.
With under three minutes left and Carolina 57 yards away from an upset-sealing touchdown, Nathan received the snap. He dodged a linebacker. Then he took off, scrambling to his left before turning upfield.
At Celina, Nathan and the rest of the quarterbacks often practiced drawing penalties on late hits out of bounds. So as he ran down the Tar Heels' sideline, he spotted Miami linebacker Zach McCloud. Nathan started to slow down. And he braced himself.
McCloud hit Nathan late out of bounds, resulting in a personal foul and moving UNC's offense across midfield. What Nathan didn't expect, though, is what came next. As he regained his footing, Nathan's teammates swarmed to his defense, shouting at McCloud and several other Miami players before Carolina's coaches intervened.
The Tar Heels lost that game. But they left it with more clarity at quarterback.
"When I felt that and saw them after I got hit out of bounds late and everyone on the team was running out there, that meant more than anything they could ever say," Nathan said. "That gave me a lot of confidence."
It's steadily grown since then.
'More comfortable'
In the final three games of last season, Nathan steered UNC to victories over Pittsburgh and Western Carolina. He totaled 752 passing yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions in that span. He also rushed for 65 yards.
His leadership, however, proved more valuable than anything. And entering Saturday's California game, now as the unquestioned starter, that's remained the case.
"He's much more comfortable at this time of the year than he was last year," Larry Fedora said recently. "He's more comfortable in the offense, he's more comfortable in the role. There's a better presence from him on the field and off the field. He's developed into a good leader, and he can do everything we need to run this offense."
Nathan doesn't claim to have the strongest throwing arm. He's heard the criticism about it, as well as other aspects of his game. But he understands his strengths. And of course, he's always trying to improve in any way he can.
Finally becoming a Division I starting quarterback hasn't changed who Nathan Elliott is.
"I got here off hard work and just continuously working every day," he said. "I know I'm not the most talented, biggest, fastest or strongest. But working hard is something I can control."
And it's what he'll always do.
Â
Players Mentioned
Quarterback
/ Football
Quarterback
/ Football
Wide Receiver
/ Football
Quarterback
/ FootballCarolina Insider - Interview with Jonathan Powell (Full Segment) - September 15, 2025
Monday, September 15
Carolina Insider - Football vs. Richmond Recap with Bryn Renner (Full Segment) - September 15, 2025
Monday, September 15
UNC Field Hockey: Tar Heels Edge #9 Liberty, 3-1
Monday, September 15
UNC Football: Tar Heels Overpower Richmond, 41-6
Sunday, September 14