Updated Feb. 15, 2026, 9:31 a.m. ET
North Carolina football has been playing musical chairs at quarterback this offseason.
Three have left via the transfer portal, while three have come in.
Western Carolina’s Taron Dickens is the latest addition to the Tar Heels‘ quarterback room.
Dickens made national headlines last season, shattering the NCAA record for most consecutive passes completed in a single game with 46 in a row against Wofford on Oct. 4. Dickens finished the day 53-for-56 with 378 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Catamounts to a 23-21 win.
Dickens, a 5-11 junior-to-be out of Miami, passed for a school-record 3,508 passing yards this season, including four 400-yard games. He led the FCS with a 74.2% completion percentage and won the SoCon Offensive Player of the Year. He earned multiple FCS All-American honors and finished runner-up in the voting for the Walter Payton Award, given to FCS’ top offensive player in the nation.
Dickens will have the chance to compete with fellow newcomers Billy Edwards Jr. (Wisconsin) and Miles O’Neill (Texas A&M) to lead the Tar Heels offense under new coordinator Bobby Petrino.
Quarterbacks Gio Lopez (Wake Forest), Max Johnson (Georgia Southern) and Bryce Barker (Virginia Tech) all departed this offseason.
The Tar Heels finished 4-8 in Bill Belichick’s first season in Chapel Hill and ranked 131st in total offense among 136 FBS teams at the end of the regular season.
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