Sources: North Carolina lets Jacolby Criswell start as quarterback

North Carolina is expected to start with its third quarterback in four games, as Jacolby Criswell will take the first snaps against James Madison on Saturday, a source told ESPN.

Criswell, who returned to North Carolina after the 2023 season at Arkansas, had been competing with Conner Harrell during the week.

The Tar Heels lost Max Johnson, a transfer from Texas A&M, to a broken leg in their season-opening win at Minnesota. Harrell replaced Johnson and has started the last two games, but struggled early last week against North Carolina A&T and was replaced by Criswell, who had 161 passing yards and a touchdown in a 45-10 win.

“He's made tremendous progress,” offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey said of Criswell this week. “He came here late in the summer and had a lot of practice early in fall camp, but then you have to prepare for the first game and we just felt like Conner and Max were ahead of him in terms of the practices and the offense, etc. What I've seen especially since Max went down – not that he wasn't preparing before – is probably he has a greater sense of urgency.”

The 6-foot-1, 235-pound Criswell came to UNC in 2020 but played sparingly for three seasons, although he did start once in 2021. He appeared in four games for Arkansas in 2023, passing for 143 yards and three touchdowns. Criswell returned to North Carolina after spring training and retained his eligibility for two seasons.

247 Sports first reported that Criswell was expected to be North Carolina's starter for the game against James Madison.