GoHeels Exclusive: Ice Cold

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

Throughout the spring and summer, they all saw it, the confidence and composure with which Sam Howell carried himself, far more than any other true freshman they've known.

Jeremiah Gemmel noticed it even before then.

"I sensed that when he got here in (January)," said the redshirt sophomore linebacker as he walked out of Kenan Stadium just past midnight Sunday and onto the Chapel Hill streets, still abuzz after North Carolina's 28-25 victory over Miami.

"Even before we touched the field, Sam just seemed like a nice, laidback kid. I was like, 'This kid might be a pretty good quarterback for us.' Nothing would faze him."

That remained true as Howell battled for the starting quarterback job throughout preseason camp. Even after earning it, his demeanor didn't change. Still, it's one thing to display such poise on the practice field. It's entirely another to translate it to games.

But through his first two, Howell has, despite both times finding himself faced with adversity that most quarterbacks his age couldn't handle.

A week removed from leading the Tar Heels to an 11-point fourth-quarter comeback over South Carolina in his debut, Howell converted a fourth-and-17 – with less than three minutes left and no timeouts left – on UNC's game-winning drive against the Hurricanes. And for just the sixth time since Mack Brown left, Carolina is 2-0 in his return, thanks in part to Howell's heroics.

Entering this season, the Tar Heels hadn't won consecutive games by four points or less, nor after trailing in the fourth quarter, since 2016, when they beat Pittsburgh, 37-36, and Florida State, 37-35. Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky engineered those comebacks. Howell has authored just as many in his first two games.

Apparently, he did the same in Monroe at Sun Valley High School.

"My freshman year in high school," Howell said, "we had a ton of wins like this."

No one, not even the good folks down in Union County, could've faulted him, though, if he felt some anxiety after Miami went ahead 25-20 with 4:38 remaining.

At that point, UNC's 17-point first quarter, highlighted by a 62-yard touchdown pass from Howell to Dyami Brown, seemed distant. And the energy inside Kenan Stadium, once rocking, had begun to dissipate. Still, Howell remained calm.

"Right before that last drive," Howell said, "I just told the guys, 'We've been here before. We've done it in games and we've done it in practice. We've just got to do what we do.'"

Javonte Williams opened the drive with a 22-yard run. Howell then connected with Dyami Brown for four yards, bringing Carolina to the Hurricanes' 49. But back-to-back sacks pushed the Tar Heels back across midfield, setting up that fourth-and-17.

Initially, Mack Brown sent out the punt team, but elected to put the offense back on the field after calling his last timeout. As they lined up, the members of the offense couldn't help but think about how daunting the task before them was.

"Fourth-and-(17), it's starting to feel like it's over," Charlie Heck said. "But then knowing when we line up that we've got that quarterback behind us and we've got the playmakers at receiver and I could tell we protected it well, and if you give Sam time, he's going to find an open guy."

The guy that time, Toe Groves, ran a post-corner route. Miami brought pressure, but Howell stepped up in the pocket and delivered a strike to Groves for 20 yards – and a first down.

Dazz Newsome said UNC had practiced that play, which he described as "the perfect zone-beater," since the beginning of spring ball. The Tar Heels had yet to run it through nearly two games. When they finally did, it was at the perfect time.

"When Phil Longo said let's go for the fourth-and-17, I said, 'You just had two sacks. Why should I be excited about your fourth-and-17 call?" Brown said. "He said, 'I think that's better right now than having 30 seconds left on the clock and no timeouts.' And we decided to go for it.

"But how does that happen on fourth-and-17? That's hard to do, and Sam found the right guy. He had pressure and he stepped up and found the right guy. Most young guys would have hit somebody underneath and the game would have been over."

But as has been established by now, Howell isn't like most young guys. That's why no one on the Carolina sideline batted an eye during the final drive.

"I don't even get nervous anymore in those situations," Myles Dorn said. "I kind of knew he was going to get (the first down on fourth-and-17). I didn't even put my helmet on because I knew I was going to sit back down."

"Right when we got that first down," Gemmel said, "I was like, 'It's over with. We're finna score right here and stop them and get the win.'"

Howell found Beau Corrales for 12 yards on the next play, then ran for four more. Michael Carter followed that up with a 9-yard run. And suddenly, the Tar Heels were all the way down to the Hurricanes' 10 with a little more than a minute still left.

Howell didn't waste any time, taking a shotgun snap, pumping right and quickly looking over the middle before lobbing a ball to the right corner of the end zone for Newsome. The junior receiver tracked it in, dragged his feet and completed the touchdown catch. The crowd of 50,500 erupted.

"I saw that he was scared to give me the inside and I had a corner route," Newsome said. "So, I gave him a little fake move, I gave him a little fake head nod inside, and I guess he jumped; I don't know where he went, but he was nowhere to be found when I ran the corner route. And Sam put it right on the money."

A successful two-point conversion by Carter extended UNC's lead to three. Miami had a chance to tie it with nine seconds remaining, but kicker Bubba Baxa missed a 49-yard field goal wide left. As several of his teammates ran toward the student section for the impending celebration, Howell prepared to line up in the victory formation and milk the final five seconds off the clock.

Shortly after time expired, ESPN pulled Howell aside for a postgame interview. Among the questions asked: Do you have ice in your veins?

"That's not for me to decide," said the quarterback, still cool and collected.

Well, Tomon Fox, what do you think?

"That boy cold."

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Players Mentioned

Dyami Brown

Michael Carter

Beau Corrales

Myles Dorn

Tomon Fox

Jeremiah Gemmel

Charlie Heck

Dazz Newsome

Javonte Williams

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