UNC has named Wisconsin transfer Billy Edwards Jr. its starting quarterback, according to multiple reports.
Edwards won a “close battle” with Texas A&M transfer Miles O’Neill for the job, ESPN’s Pete Thamel first revealed Tuesday.
In 2024, Edwards threw for 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions during his 2,881-yard season at Maryland. After transferring to Wisconsin last season, he spent most of the year on the sidelines due to a PCL strain in his left knee.
“Billy Edwards has played a lot of football and had a lot of production in the Big Ten in the ’24 season,” coach Bill Belichick said Friday. “From an experience standpoint, he had more experience than all the other quarterbacks put together times five.”
UNC’s quarterback battle began with four players, Belichick said at ACC Kickoff on July 17. But it apparently narrowed to Edwards and O’Neill, before Edwards ultimately won the job.
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Edwards' career has taken him to three schools in six years
Edwards started his career at Wake Forest, where he redshirted his 2021 season before transferring to Maryland.
The 6-foot-3 graduate student was a backup for nearly all the 2022 and 2023 seasons before he started the Music City Bowl in 2023 and won the game’s MVP. The following year, he ranked second in the Big Ten with an average of nearly 262 passing yards a game.
In 2025, Edwards played in just two games for the Badgers, suffering his PCL injury in the season opener against Miami (Ohio). He tried to play against Maryland less than a month later but left the contest earlier due to the injury.
On the season, he completed 7 of 16 passes for 113 yards before receiving the medical redshirt, which opened the door for him to play a fifth season in 2026.
“Billy,” Belichick said at ACC Kickoff, “was one of the top passers in the Big Ten two years ago.”
O’Neill, who is 6-foot-5, backed up Aggies starters the previous two seasons. In 2025, he threw a total of 14 passes, including one touchdown and two interceptions. He was the 2023 Gatorade Player of the Year in New Jersey, coming out of high school as a four-star recruit.
How Belichick evaluates quarterbacks
Belichick said Friday that a quarterback’s ability to eliminate mistakes was a priority in his evaluation process. He said Tom Brady, with whom he won six Super Bowls as part of the New England Patriots, excelled at limiting blunders.
“I’ve always said that about Tom Brady,” Belichick said, “the greatest quarterback in NFL history. As great as Tom was, he was great, he made a lot of great plays, but the most important thing he did was he eliminated the bad ones.”
UNC is looking to remedy a 2025 season in which it went 4-8. Quarterback Gio Lopez threw for 1,747 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions before leaving to Wake Forest.
The Tar Heels will travel to Ireland next week for their Week 0 season opener against TCU on Aug. 29.
