Heel Tough Blog: Belichick Non-Commital on Starting QB But Seems to Have a Lean

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Tar Heel head coach Bill Belichick met with the media on Tuesday afternoon to discuss where things sit for the team after their first bye week of the season this past Saturday. Amongst the things that were discussed was the quarterback situation heading into this Saturday’s game with the Clemson Tigers following the injury to Gio Lopez in the game against UCF.

Belichick was very non-committal on what the team will do at the spot in what feels like an important game for the direction of the season. He said that Lopez didn’t do much last week, but that they would have to see what he did today during practice in his return to the field. “We'll see what he's able to do today. He didn't do much last week, but he's been in here every day working hard getting treatment, and I'll see where he's at today.”

When asked if the team had plans to get more reps for Max Johnson with the starters, Belichick said that it was contingent on what they saw from Lopez on Tuesday. “I don't know what I'm gonna see from Gio, so, that's a tough question to answer. Max is getting reps. All three quarterbacks are. We'll see how all that plays out, and we'll see what Gio's availability is as we go through the week.”

So far this season, the Tar Heels offense with Lopez in the game has been incredibly underwhelming. Through the first five weeks of the season, the team ranks 134th in the country in total offense per game (263.5), 124th in passing offense per game (150.0) and 106th in points per game (21.0), all direct reflections of what Lopez has done at quarterback. While it hasn’t been perfect with Johnson when he has been in there, he has thrown for more yards combined in the two games he’s played in than Lopez has in those same games in less playing time and led a touchdown drive on his first drive in both of those games.

With what Belichick said on Tuesday, though, it would seem to indicate that the staff is wanting to stick with Lopez if he is healthy as opposed to turning things over to Johnson. It feels like this is the perfect excuse for the team to at least get a look at what Johnson can do in this offense while starting a game, especially since this offense seems to fit him better than it does Lopez and it feels like he gives you a better chance to win now and evaluate the rest of the roster. It doesn’t seem like the staff sees it that way, though, meaning we just have to cross our fingers in hopes that either Lopez figures things out or Freddie Kitchens adjusts his offensive gameplan, neither of which seem very likely right now.