Heel Tough Blog: Tar Heels Land First Transfer Commit in Form of a QB

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After two days of hosting transfer portal visitors, the Tar Heels landed their first commitment in the portal on Sunday morning.

As first reported by Inside Carolina, Wisconsin transfer quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. has committed to the Tar Heels in the midst of his visit to campus. He has one year of eligibility remaining.

Edwards, a former 3✮ prospect in the 2021 class, entered the transfer portal on Monday after spending just one season with the Wisconsin Badgers. He played in just two games this season for the team, suffering a Grade 3 PCL strain in the season-opening game against Miami (OH). He would return in the game against Maryland where he would play just six snaps before being sidelined for the rest of the season. He would finish the season 7 of 16 for 113 yards in 34 total snaps.

Prior to his time at Wisconsin, Edwards spent three seasons at Maryland where he split time at the position in his first two years before taking over as the full-time starter in 2024. In his first two seasons with the team, he played in 16 games with the team, including four starts, throwing for 441 yards, four touchdowns and one interception on 38 of 76 passing and running for 227 yards and eight touchdowns on 63 rush attempts. In 2024, he took over as the full time starter, throwing for 2,881 yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions on 273 of 420 passing and running for 148 yards and five touchdowns on 81 carries for a Terrapins team that finished the season 4-8 (1-8).

Edwards is not exactly one of the top quarterbacks that were available in the transfer portal, but it seemed like this staff was never really focused on getting one of those top guys at this position. The good news for Tar Heel fans is that this is at least competition for Gio Lopez, who looks like he will at least be afforded the chance to compete for the starting job this season. Edwards brings a pretty solid arm to the table and should be able to succeed in the deep passing game better than Lopez did this past season, but there will still probably be some inconsistencies that the Tar Heels will have to deal with. Let’s hope he or Lopez can just at least do enough to get this team to a bowl game while facing a much more difficult schedule than they did this year.