It is increasingly likely that North Carolina will be without quarterback Gio Lopez for its ACC opener Saturday against Clemson. Things are trending toward coach Bill Belichick naming Max Johnson the starter for Week 6, CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz confirmed, after Lopez sustained a lower body injury in the Tar Heels’ loss two weeks ago at UCF.
The Tar Heels listed Lopez as questionable throughout the week on their availability report, and Belichick said that he was unable to practice during the bye week.
“We’ll see what he’s [Lopez] able to do today,” Belichick said this week. “He didn’t do much last week, but he’s been in here every day working hard, getting treatment. We’ll see where he’s at today.”
If Johnson replaces Lopez in the lineup against Clemson, the conference opener will mark his first start since the first week of the 2024 season. Johnson suffered a brutal leg injury in last year’s opener, and it required five surgeries to get him back into playing shape. The former Texas A&M and LSU starter said ahead of this season that at one point he thought he was going to lose his leg.
Quarterback play has been among the myriad issues with North Carolina’s offense through one-third of the season. Lopez was hardly efficient across four starts, completing 62.7% of his throws for just 430 yards with three touchdowns to three interceptions. The Tar Heels rank No. 124 nationally in passing offense after five weeks.
Johnson could help the aerial attack take a step forward. In limited action this year, he completed 20 of 30 passes for 170 yards and two scores. The sixth-year veteran also has experience squaring off against high-caliber defenses given his starting background in the SEC, whereas Lopez arrived at North Carolina this season from a Group of Six program in South Alabama.
“We have two experienced quarterbacks and two freshmen,” Belichick said. “The two experienced quarterbacks are ahead of the freshmen at this point. But I’d say those freshmen are gaining ground, and they’re making improvement on a steady basis, as well. Gio wasn’t able to practice last week, so we practiced with the guys that we have, and we’ll see how that goes today and figure it out for this coming game.
“But, look, Gio’s improved a lot, and offensively, again, we just haven’t been consistent enough in any area,” Belichick continued. “But we’re getting closer. We’ll continue to push ahead on that, and when Gio is able to practice we’ll see how much improvement he has made and can make. If he’s not, then others will be in there.”
It is not just the passing game that plagued North Carolina in the early going of Belichick’s debut season at the helm. The offense as a whole has been one of the weakest in college football, having scored no more than 20 points against an FBS opponent and no more than 14 in either matchup against Power Four competition. The defense hasn’t been any better against higher-end competition, with TCU and UCF scoring a combined 82 points.
“There are things that guys are doing well and need to be more consistent at,” said Belichick. “There are certainly things that we can all do better — coaches, players, head coach, coordinators, play-callers, everybody. We’ve taken a good look at where we’re at, what we need to improve in, what will help us the most. … We’ve dedicated time, energy and practice time to those things to try to improve them, in some cases change them, in some cases throw them out and move to something that we think will be a little bit more productive.”