University of North Carolina Athletics
November 3, 2026 | Football
But the Tar Heels will gladly welcome more stat lines like the one their veteran leader had this past week.
From a statistical perspective, Billy Edwards Jr. is coming off his best game of the season and arguably his career. The sixth-year quarterback embraced the back-and-forth shootout between the Tar Heels and the No. 1 Hurricanes, throwing for 341 yards and a career-high four touchdowns while completing 82% of his passes.
Those numbers earned Edwards ACC Quarterback of the Week honors, but the Tar Heel transfer and captain has been valuable in other games this season and each day at practice with intangibles like leadership, experience and poise. He's been durable and shown physical and mental toughness, absorbing blows and overcoming miscues. Against Miami, he broke out of sacks and dove for first downs.
Edwards took care of the football in tough conditions during the season-opening win against TCU, moved past early mistakes and threw the game-deciding TD against Pittsburgh and calmly led a game-winning drive against Duke after a 17-point lead vanished.
UNC head coach Bill Belichick has praised his signal-caller for his smarts, noting that he often reads the defense correctly pre-snap and checks into the right call, whether that's a pass or running play.
Matt Lombardi, UNC's quarterbacks coach, looks at Edwards and sees the quintessential not-too-high, not-too-low guy.
"He's very process driven, and he knows that the most important play is the next play," Lombardi said Monday during UNC's weekly press conference. "We can't get too emotional. We always say in our room, 'Execution over emotion.' Whatever happens on the last play, flush it, move on to the next one and try to execute that play as best you can. It's very cliche, very coach-speak, but he speaks it out loud."
Edwards prides himself on being a bridge between the coaching staff and the players, a legitimate need for a team with 40 freshmen and 19 transfers. Given his leadership ability and the respect he receives from teammates, it can be hard to believe Edwards is a transfer himself.
"I'm doing everything in my power to put them in the best chance to be successful," Edwards said earlier this season. "I want us to all be successful. So, just really being a guy in the huddle and in the locker room that those guys can look at and look up to. Just going about my business the right way, focusing on the process and letting everything take care of itself."
Coaching Edwards is like having an extra graduate assistant in the QB room, according to Lombardi. He noted that Edwards comes from a football family and has a brother who coaches at the collegiate level with Richmond.
"He's using his experience to help the other guys out. And I make sure they know that, too," Lombardi said. "Watch how he works. This is how it should be done. This is what we want."
Tight end Jordan Washington, also new to the program, said you have to prove yourself all over again when you transfer, which Edwards has done.
"He's stepped up in a way we need our quarterback to," Washington said.
Another component of Edwards' game that could bolster the Tar Heels this November? Hunger. No. 9 knows he's in the home stretch of his collegiate career, beginning this Saturday at Connecticut.
"We've got four guaranteed games left," Edwards said following UNC's 38-35 loss to Miami. "Obviously, we decide what our future is. I'm just trying to maximize every opportunity I get."
Three and out
A trio of additional notes from Monday's news conference
1. Kekahuna adds another dimension to the passing game
UNC wideout Trech Kekahuna, a Honolulu native, has stood out during the team's pregame Old Well Walks because of what he's worn around his neck.
"It's a ti leaf lei," said Kekahuna, a redshirt junior in his first season with the program after playing at Wisconsin. "It's a real traditional thing for us locals and Hawaiians. Mom made it back home. You pick it off this ti leaf tree."
In recent weeks, Kekahuna, a shifty receiver, has also stood out in the Tar Heels' game plan. His position coach Garrick McGee recently called Kekahuna "dependable" and said the offense needs to find ways to get him "in the middle of the action."
The Tar Heels are starting to do that. Kekahuna had nine catches for 132 yards in the past three games, including a season-high 57 yards and his first TD of the year against Miami.
"Everybody's got to be ready to go and make plays in those opportunities," Belichick said. "Trech had a good couple of man-to-man opportunities on the over route — on the touchdown on the middle read against man coverage at the end of the game."
2. Washington bolsters a talented tight end room
Tight end Jordan Washington would like to address the elephant in the room: the wide-open, would-be TD he dropped in the end zone against Syracuse. Ultimately, the error became inconsequential because of a TD run by Demon "JuJu" June a play later.
"I apologized to the team," said Washington, a Texas transfer. "I hugged JuJu after the play. I promised to the team something like that will never happen again."
Washington is taking the miscue in stride and even providing some self-deprecating humor on it. He's happy to finally be seeing the field as a Tar Heel, something he wasn't sure would be possible this season when he partially tore his ACL with just a handful of days remaining in spring practice.
Now fully cleared and with three games under his belt, the injury is in the past. He's not using it as a crutch.
"I feel like that's another excuse. If somebody were to say something like, 'Hey, you dropped the ball,' I can't say, 'That's part of my ACL.'"
At 6'4" and 265 pounds, Washington adds plenty of size to an already talented tight end room with playmakers like Jelani Thurman and Shemar Easter. He's a big help as a blocker and has caught three passes, including two against Miami.
"He's got good size and can play at the point of attack," Belichick said.
Washington looks forward to contributing to a group that prides itself on its toughness.
"We're going to be the toughest group, the most dependable, the most productive," he said.
3. Newly returned Cost hopes turnovers are coming
The Tar Heel secondary has been hit hard by injuries this season, but they got a key member back last week with nickelback Kaleb Cost returning to action. The senior missed two games after getting hurt early in the Tar Heels' win at Pittsburgh.
Cost made four tackles in his return and helped UNC limit Miami's Malachi Toney, one of the top receivers in the nation, to a season-low 75 receiving yards.
Creating more turnovers is an emphasis for the UNC defense, which has forced key takeaways in wins at Pitt and Duke but hasn't had one since those games.
"It starts at practice with the preparation," said Cost, who has three career interceptions, including a pick six. "Just attacking the ball at practice will translate to the game. Bill always preaches whatever you do in practice will be how you perform in the game."
