CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Bill Belichick hasn’t yet named a starting quarterback entering his first season at North Carolina, but the team will also have to account for the leading signal callers of other squads throughout the year.
North Carolina kicks off the season in less than two weeks, when it hosts TCU on Labor Day. Starting that night, the Tar Heels will host quarterbacks with a range of college football experience and success, from all-conference caliber players to those who have limited experience as starters.
Not every team on UNC’s schedule has officially named a starter, but most either bring back seasoned veterans who were already with the program or will likely start transfer additions who saw action at previous schools.
Here’s a quick look at the six projected starting quarterbacks that UNC will face in Kenan Stadium this season:
Josh Hoover — TCU, Sept. 1
Josh Hoover is slated to be the first player to throw against the Tar Heels this season when the teams face off on Labor Day.
Last season, Hoover completed 66.5% of his passes and threw for 3,949 yards along with 27 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Hoover was sacked 16 times in 13 games. He helped lead the Horned Frogs to a 9-4 record while behind center.
Hoover won the Offensive MVP at last year’s New Mexico Bowl, as he tossed four touchdowns, completed 20 of his 32 pass attempts and recorded 252 passing yards in a 34-3 victory. The victory marked his fourth career game with four passing touchdowns. He currently has 11 games with 300 or more passing yards, including three with 400 or more.
Before becoming the full-time starter, Hoover made six starts as a redshirt-freshman in the 2023 season at TCU, all of which were the final six games to close the season. He went 2-4 in those games, throwing for 2,206 yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions while completing 62.1% of his passes.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Hoover began his career in Fort Worth in 2022, coming out of Rockwall-Heath (Texas) High School. He redshirted his true freshman year.
Hoover’s top returning pass catchers from last year will be WR Eric McAlister and TE DJ Rogers. McAlister was second on the team with 762 receiving yards on 39 catches, and Rogers caught 12 passes for 142 yards.
Kyle Wickersham — Richmond, Sept. 13
Kyle Wickersham is the Wickersham quarterback with the most playing and starting experience, and he figures to be QB1 entering 2025.
Wickersham is entering his fifth season with the program after taking a redshirt year in 2021. He saw the most action in 2023, playing 10 games with seven starts. Wickersham recorded 1,400 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and four interceptions and added 401 rushing yards with four rushing touchdowns. The Spiders went 4-3 in those games and 9-4 overall. Wickersham led the team to the second round of the FCS Championship, as the team defeated North Carolina Central before losing to Albany.
Wickersham started three of the team’s games last year, going 1-2 in those outings. He dealt with injuries last season, and Camden Coleman was the starter for most of Richmond’s games. The Spiders finished last season with a 10-3 record.
Wickersham played high school football at Metairie (La.) Archbishop Rummel. There, he went 22-2 in two years as a starter and brought home a Division I 5A State Championship title as a junior. His team went 13-0 that year.
As training camp continues, Wickersham is the most likely starter with Coleman now at JMU. The Richmond offense brings back Ja’Vion Griffin, who was fourth on the team with 311 receiving yards on 22 catches.
Cade Klubnik — Clemson, Oct. 4
UNC’s third home game will feature a more than familiar face when Cade Klubnik comes to town.
Klubnik has faced UNC twice in his career. The first time, he came off the bench for the Tigers in the 2022 ACC Championship game. Klubnik came in and dazzled, completing 20 of his 24 passes for 279 yards and a touchdown in a breakout performance. His efforts earned him the ACC Championship MVP award in the 39-10 victory, the first of two that he’s won.
His second time going against the Tar Heels came the next season when he took over the starting job. That day, he contributed 219 passing yards with one passing TD and a rushing TD in a 31-20 Clemson home victory.
Last season, Klubnik delivered his best season to date. He compiled 3,639 passing yards, 36 touchdowns and just six interceptions with a 63.4% completion rate. He added 463 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns to his totals as well en route to an ACC-winning season. The Tigers defeated SMU in the conference championship game, 34-31, behind Klubnik’s four touchdown passes.
The media voted Klubnik as this year’s ACC Preseason Player of the Year. The Clemson offense brings back its three leading receivers in Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco Jr. and TJ Moore.
Klubnik came out of Austin (Texas) Westlake as a five-star prospect in the class of 2022. He now enters his fourth season with the Tigers.
Chandler Morris — Virginia, Oct. 25
Chandler Morris enters his sixth season of college football ready to play for his fourth school.
Morris transferred to the Cavaliers in the winter portal window after one season at North Texas. He started his career with one season at Oklahoma in 2020, and he spent the next three seasons after that at TCU before becoming the full-time starter at North Texas last season.
With the Mean Green in 2024, Morris racked up 3,774 passing yards and threw 31 touchdowns with 12 interceptions while completing 63.1% of his passes. Morris had four games last season with 400+ passing yards and seven with at least three touchdown passes. He finished with a 6-6 record as a starter in 12 games.
Morris has played 32 games in his career and has cumulative totals of 6,207 passing yards, 47 touchdown passes, 12 interceptions, 642 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.
North Carolina faced Virginia on the road last season and came away with a 41-14 win that snapped a four-game losing streak. The UNC defense recorded 10 sacks in the victory with Anthony Colandrea behind center as the Cavaliers’ quarterback before Tony Muskett came into the game.
Morris played high school football at Dallas (Texas) Highland Park. Both Morris and Hoover were on the 2022 TCU team that reached the national championship game.
Ben Gulbranson — Stanford, Nov. 8
When Stanford comes to town, Ben Gulbranson will likely be the Cardinal’s signal caller.
Gulbranson was named as Stanford’s starting quarterback this training camp, beating out Elijah Brown for the QB1 title. He transferred into the program after spending five seasons at Oregon State.
Gulbranson missed the 2021 season in full and played just one game in 2020 for the Beavers. Gulbranson enters the 2025 season with career statistics of 2,648 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 18 games while completing 61.8% of his passes.
Last season, Gulbranson played five games and started three. He threw for 943 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions, adding a 60.9% completion rate on his throws as well. His most productive year came in 2022, in which he played 10 games and started eight. That season, he recorded 1,455 passing yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions and went 7-1 in his eight starts. He led the Beavers to a victory in the Las Vegas Bowl against Florida and won the MVP award.
North Carolina last hosted Stanford in 1997, coming away with a 28-17 victory.
Gulbranson played high school football at Newbury Park (Calif.).
Darian Mensah — Duke, Nov. 22
The Blue Devils landed Tulane’s Darian Mensah out of the transfer portal to play quarterback for them this season.
Mensah first joined Tulane in 2023 and redshirted his first year. Last season at Tulane as the starter, Mensah played 13 games for the Green Wave. He went 9-4 as a starter and took the team to the American Championship game, where Tulane lost to Army. Mensah recorded 2,723 passing yards along with 22 touchdowns, six interceptions and a conference-best 65.9% completion rate.
Tulane went on an eight-game winning streak in the middle of last season. In that stretch, the Green Wave averaged 43.4 points per game.
When North Carolina faced Duke on the road last season, Malik Murphy quarterbacked the Blue Devils in their 21-20 win over UNC. Murphy completed just 15 of his 34 pass attempts for 209 yards and a touchdown in the win.
Que’Sean Brown and Sahmir Hagans are Duke’s most productive returning receivers, as they were third and fourth on the team, respectively, in receiving yards.
Mensah, listed at 6-foot-3, came out of Santa Monica (Calif.) St. Joseph rated as a three-star quarterback.
