Logan Byrd’s decision to leave North Carolina shouldn’t come as much surprise to anyone. With two experienced quarterbacks one year ahead and in his class, respectively, plus two more highly touted ones coming in, perhaps the writing was on the wall.
Byrd wasn’t going to beat out Chazz Surratt or Nathan Elliott, and neither appears headed for the NFL after next season, so the likelihood of Byrd becoming the starter would mean waiting until his senior season.
That, however, is only if he were to fend off Jace Ruder and Cade Fortin down the road, and such a projection was no longer being made within the walls of the program. They weren’t dismissed, but the others appear more suited for Larry Fedora’s version of the spread offense.
It also must be noted that Byrd was, for lack of a better term, Seth Littrell’s guy. Littrell, the former offensive coordinator and now the head coach at North Texas, was a primary reason UNC was able to flip Byrd from Virginia Tech.
So when Byrd arrived to UNC, he was one of two quarterbacks in the class, joining Surratt, who was Keith Heckendorf’s guy.
Heckendorf is still the QB coach at UNC and Surratt ended up the main starter this past season and will probably go into camp next season with an edge over Elliott to win the job again.
Now, this isn’t to suggest there was any favoritism at all. Coaches want to win and they generally don’t care who wins starting jobs, so long as the job gets done. But Byrd and Surratt are very different athletes with alternative strengths and weaknesses. The way Heckendorf envisions his QB performing plays more into the skill set that Surratt, Ruder, Fortin and even Elliott have over what makes Byrd go.
Byrd is a good talent who hopefully will succeed wherever he ends up. As for the UNC program, it’s preferable to have five QBs on scholarship, and the intent all along was to have five, but the staff may be set with four and Manny Miles as the fifth guy, even though he’s a walk on. At least he’s been on the field as the holder and even completed a two-point conversion this past season.
As of this writing, I have not heard of the staff adding another QB, so we will move forward figuring that won’t happen.
Byrd wasn’t going to beat out Chazz Surratt or Nathan Elliott, and neither appears headed for the NFL after next season, so the likelihood of Byrd becoming the starter would mean waiting until his senior season.
That, however, is only if he were to fend off Jace Ruder and Cade Fortin down the road, and such a projection was no longer being made within the walls of the program. They weren’t dismissed, but the others appear more suited for Larry Fedora’s version of the spread offense.
It also must be noted that Byrd was, for lack of a better term, Seth Littrell’s guy. Littrell, the former offensive coordinator and now the head coach at North Texas, was a primary reason UNC was able to flip Byrd from Virginia Tech.
So when Byrd arrived to UNC, he was one of two quarterbacks in the class, joining Surratt, who was Keith Heckendorf’s guy.
Heckendorf is still the QB coach at UNC and Surratt ended up the main starter this past season and will probably go into camp next season with an edge over Elliott to win the job again.
Now, this isn’t to suggest there was any favoritism at all. Coaches want to win and they generally don’t care who wins starting jobs, so long as the job gets done. But Byrd and Surratt are very different athletes with alternative strengths and weaknesses. The way Heckendorf envisions his QB performing plays more into the skill set that Surratt, Ruder, Fortin and even Elliott have over what makes Byrd go.
Byrd is a good talent who hopefully will succeed wherever he ends up. As for the UNC program, it’s preferable to have five QBs on scholarship, and the intent all along was to have five, but the staff may be set with four and Manny Miles as the fifth guy, even though he’s a walk on. At least he’s been on the field as the holder and even completed a two-point conversion this past season.
As of this writing, I have not heard of the staff adding another QB, so we will move forward figuring that won’t happen.
