If you knew Sam Howell and his upbringing, it almost told you exactly where he was going to play college football. Howell was born in Waynesville, North Carolina, and grew up in Union County, so when Howell decided to take his football talents to the University of North Carolina, it should’ve surprised no one.
Before enrolling at UNC, Howell attended Sun Valley High School, where he threw for 13,415 yards and 145 touchdowns and rushed for 3,621 yards and 60 touchdowns during his high school career. His performance at Sun Valley made him the second-highest-ranked recruit from North Carolina that year, allowing him access to several school options to choose from.
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Sam Howell’s College Football Career
As destined as it seemed that Howell would stay home and be a Tar Heel, that wasn’t actually where he verbally committed to first. He originally committed to play college football at Florida State but flipped his commitment to North Carolina after FSU’s offensive coordinator Walt Bell left the program, and Mack Brown was hired as UNC’s newest head coach.
Howell’s time at Chapel Hill started impressively after becoming the first true freshman to win the starting QB job in the school’s history. In his debut, he passed for 245 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-20 victory over rival South Carolina. From that point on, the Howell era was off and running at UNC.
Howell was named the ACC Rookie of the Year after his freshman season and earned third-team All-ACC during that year. He would go on to play three seasons at UNC before turning the page to the NFL.
Howell finished his Tar Heel career throwing for 92 touchdown passes and 10,283 yards — both school records — and threw at least one touchdown pass in every game he played in college.
How Has Howell Fared as the Washington Commanders’ QB?
2023 is Howell’s first real chance in the NFL. He had started games prior to this year, but Howell walked into this past offseason’s training camp with a real chance to earn a starting job in the NFL.
And that’s just what he did.
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Despite having veteran Jacoby Brissett in the quarterback room as well as CFB national champion Jake Fromm to compete with, Howell grabbed a hold of the job and never let it go.
The jury is still out on what his career is going to look like, but the people in Washington like the young QB and are encouraged by everything he brings to the team. They hope he can be their guy for the foreseeable future.