Sam Howell: QB · North Carolina · #7.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Sam Howell
Runs when the pocket breaks down. Third year in the North Carolina quarterback room. All-ACC in 2021 made it three straight seasons on the honors list. One game to point at: 352 passing yards and 104 rushing yards against Georgia State — Week 2, 2021.
Play style
Dangerous with both arm and legs — defenses can't just pin the ears back.
Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long
Where the completions actually land
62.9% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 19.1% conversion-per-dropback — 59.1% of completions land short of the sticks.
Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. checkdown by design
Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration
Who gets the tough yard
4 of the team's 22 inside-the-5 carries (18.2%).
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
247Sports Nov 3
Syracuse.com Oct 22Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | North Carolina | 217 | 347 | 62.5% | 3,056 | 8.8 | 24 | 9 | 154.2 | 44 |
| 2020 | North Carolina | 237 | 348 | 68.1% | 3,586 | 10.3 | 30 | 7 | 179.1 | 80 |
| 2019 | North Carolina | 259 | 422 | 61.4% | 3,641 | 8.6 | 38 | 7 | 160.2 | 78 |
| Career | 713 | 1,117 | 63.8% | 10,283 | 9.2 | 92 | 23 | 164.2 | 68 |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | North Carolina | 183 | 828 | 4.5 | 11 | 62 |
| 2020 | North Carolina | 92 | 146 | 1.6 | 5 | 30 |
| 2019 | North Carolina | 94 | 35 | 0.4 | 1 | 24 |
| Career | 369 | 1,009 | 2.7 | 17 | 62 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2021 season · 11 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 10-17@ Virginia Tech | 17/32 | 208 | 1 | 3 | 6.5 | 31.2 | 3 INTs — rough day |
| Wk 2 | W 59-17vs Georgia State | 21/29 | 352 | 3 | 0 | 12.1 | 96.2 | Season-high 352 yds |
| Wk 3 | W 59-39vs Virginia | 14/21 | 307 | 5 | 1 | 14.6 | 93.7 | 5 TD passes |
| Wk 4 | L 22-45vs Georgia Tech | 25/39 | 306 | 2 | 0 | 7.8 | 30.6 | Clean 2-TD game |
| Wk 5 | W 38-7vs Duke | 18/32 | 321 | 3 | 0 | 10.0 | 55.9 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 6 | L 25-35vs Florida State | 17/32 | 203 | 2 | 1 | 6.3 | 74.2 | |
| Wk 7 | W 45-42vs Miami | 17/26 | 154 | 2 | 1 | 5.9 | 84.0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 34-44@ No. 11 Notre Dame | 24/31 | 341 | 1 | 1 | 11.0 | 93.6 | |
| Wk 10 | W 58-55vs No. 10 Wake Forest | 16/26 | 216 | 1 | 0 | 8.3 | 89.2 | |
| Wk 11 | L 23-30@ No. 25 Pittsburgh | 22/33 | 296 | 2 | 1 | 9.0 | 68.4 | |
| Wk 13 | L 30-34@ No. 24 NC State | 14/26 | 147 | 1 | 1 | 5.7 | 76.7 | |
| Total | 205/327 | 2851 | 23 | 9 | 8.7 | — |
Week 2 · 2021
W 59-17
352 yds · 3 TD · 0 INT · QBR 96.2 · 104 rush yds (11 car) · 2 TD
Dominant 42-point win at home against Georgia State.
With T. Chandler — 58 rush yds (15 car) · 1 TD · 1 rec · 15 yds · A. Green — 3 rec · 117 yds · 1 TD
The plays that mattered most
Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 339 passing plays (211 completions) against the box score's 347 attempts (217 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.
Adjusted ANY/A
7.2771 of 204 QBsSack rate
11.9%197 of 204 QBsSacked on 11.9% of dropbacks (197 of 204) — and still 71 of 204 in Adjusted ANY/A.
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Short
0–9 ydsMiddle
10–19 ydsDeep
20+ ydsOverall 62.5% completion on 347 attempts · 41 deep completions averaging 36.1 yds.
3 seasons under Mack Brown — 21-17 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2021 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 259 | 2.7 | 9.5 | 0.5 |
| Road4g | 248 | 1.2 | 8.1 | 1.5 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 264 | 2.6 | 9.0 | 0.9 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 250 | 1.2 | 8.5 | 0.8 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mack Brown
Pass share
42.7%
378 pass / 508 run
Plays / game
73.8
12 games
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2021
Our Heisman model had this player inside its top 25 in 2021.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Former four-star. Now #20 at the position.
How it ended
Three seasons at North Carolina, 10,283 passing yards — drafted at #144 overall by the Washington Commanders.
Honored in a first season.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-ACC · 2ND TEAM
All-ACC 2nd team (2020)
Weekly recognition
2 weekly honors (2020)
3 career weekly honors across 2 seasons
Coaching lineage · 2019–2021
1 coachPlayed every college season under Mack Brown.
Next stop · NFL
Washington CommandersEntering 5th NFL season
Washington CommandersEntering 5th NFL season
