Billy Edwards

#9 · QB · North Carolina6′3″ · 220 lb · Springfield, VA · Lake Braddock

ZPR6133rd of 119 QBsLast gameL 35–38vs Miami · Oct 31
Nextat UConnSat Nov 7 · 12 pm ET

Graded Solid or better in each of the last two games.

Last game: L 35-38 vs No. 1 Miami, Oct 31 · 28 of 34 for 341 yards, 4 touchdowns, a lost fumble · 8 carries for -2 yards. Started all eight of North Carolina’s games.

North Carolina’s next game: at UConn, Sat Nov 7, 12:00 p.m. ET · CBS Sports Network

North Carolina is 4-4 in the eight games played. A balanced passer.

Strongest: a touchdown on 7.1% of throws, tied for 23rd best of 158 starters.

Passing yards

1,871

149 of 235, 63%

TD–INT

15–5

8.0 per throw

NCAA rating

147.1

46th of 119

ZPR

61

33rd of 119

How ZPR works

One rough passing grade, at Clemson.

  • 1-2 against ranked teams, 266 passing yards a game.

Best by our grade: Miami. Lowest: at Clemson, with 1 interception and sacked 2 times. Biggest game: Miami, No. 1. Best play: Completion for 75 yards, touchdown, at Pittsburgh, Q4 12:36. Win chance 20% to 55%.

Tap a game for its plays

Q1Q2Q3Q4

Season

Fades after halftime

How to read this

Each column is a quarter. Blue and up is a good stretch for the quarterback, red and down a bad one, hatched means the game was already decided. A red cross is a turnover and a black dot a touchdown. The word on the right grades the whole game. A gold line means the r/CFB game thread kept naming the quarterback. Tap a game to open its plays: each bar is one of the quarterback’s plays, up helped the team’s chance of winning and down hurt it, and the grey line is that chance.

The word grades the game against every FBS quarterback start, from Rough to Great, using the same throws as the season Zeitgeist Passer Rating and adjusting for the defense faced. Bars are points added per throw in that quarter. The Season row leaves out quarters after a game was decided.

Style of play

Balanced

Why this word
Runs2.9 a gameRarelyA lot
Throws7.4 yards past the lineShortDeep
Completes63%FewerMore
Takes sacks7% of dropbacksRarelyOften

The dot is this quarterback, among this season’s starters; the tick is the middle.

Throws at a middling depth and runs some. 2.9 carries a game. Closest matches: Boley, Milivojevic ’25, Pribula, Coleman.

Where the throws go

Behind the line16%typical 17%
Short52%typical 47%
Middle25%typical 22%
Deep8%typical 14%

Runs 2.9 times a game; 72% of starters run more.

Closest in style

BoleyMilivojevic ’25PribulaColemanThis QB

Nearer the middle means more alike.

  • Boley Arizona State · Balanced
    1,360 yards, 13 TD, 5 INT so far. Both take sacks and rarely run.
  • Milivojevic ’25 Michigan State 2025 · Pocket passer
    1,267 yards, 10 TD, 3 INT. Both take sacks and rarely run.
  • Pribula Virginia · Mobile passer
    1,587 yards, 14 TD, 3 INT so far. Both score a lot and take sacks.
  • Coleman James Madison · Balanced
    1,743 yards, 16 TD, 4 INT so far. Both rarely run and rarely throw behind the line.

Compared with the 158 FBS starters this season for throws and running, and with 219 quarterbacks across 2 seasons for the matches, on how they play and how they have done.

This week

  • RecordNorth Carolina is 4-4.
  • Fans after Miami

    Welcome back Billy Edwards

    North Carolina fan

What’s being said

8 stories this week, from 8 outlets.

Nov 1: 2Nov 2: 2Nov 3: 4L 35-38 vs MiamiLOct 29Nov 4Most in a day: 4
Nov 1: 2Nov 2: 2Nov 3: 4L 35-38 vs MiamiLOct 29Nov 4Most in a day: 4
Stories per day. W and L: the team’s results.

Billy Edwards Jr. is UNC’s player of the game against Miami

Tar Heel Blog +1 Nov 3

All 69 stories this season

Worth knowing

  • Billy Edwards played at Wake Forest, Maryland and Wisconsin before joining North Carolina.
  • Billy Edwards has 266 passing yards a game at home, 201.8 on the road.

His most important play this season

  1. Q4, 12:36 · North Carolina down 3, takes the leadBilly Edwards finds Shamar Easter for a 75-yard touchdownNorth Carolina at Pittsburgh, week 6Q4, 12:36 · North Carolina 21, Pittsburgh 177575-yard touchdown pass7575-yard touchdown pass75-yard touchdown passB.Edwards Jr. pass complete deep right to S.Easter caught at Pitt50, for 75 yards to the Pitt00 touchdown, 1ST DOWN, kick goodWatch from this playESPN College Football

All 15 of his plays on video

The story

As of

The story isn't the stat line; it's the survival. Edwards arrived at Wisconsin as the answer, then a Grade 3 PCL sprain in the 2025 opener ended his year after just two games and 16 throws. A medical redshirt and a sixth season later, he's a Tar Heel — and through spring, the message from beat writers was blunt: he opened practice as the early QB1 in what's been called the most-watched position battle in the ACC, taking first-team reps in Belichick's offense.

Read the rest of the story

The tension is real, though. Belichick's debut went 6-7, and the discourse around year two is openly about whether he can coach college ball without Tom Brady. UNC's room is loud underneath Edwards: Texas A&M transfer Miles O'Neill (6-foot-5, flashing what observers called elite arm talent in 7-on-7s) and true freshman Travis Burgess are pushing the ceiling, while writers keep landing on the same phrase about Edwards — highest floor, if not the highest ceiling. That's the bet: not the most upside, the most certainty, for a program that had none last year.

The receipts that matter aren't from 2025 — they're from 2024 at Maryland, where he was the full-time starter and finished second in the Big Ten in passing yards per game. The 2026 question the boards keep circling: can a 25-year-old on his third roster, one wrecked knee removed from football, give Belichick the steadiness his first season never found?

Update (Oct. 28, 2026): North Carolina lost 31-30 to Syracuse on Oct. 24 as a 7.5-point favorite and is 4-3. Edwards threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in the loss. He has 1,530 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and 5 interceptions in seven games.

Sources