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North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Sam Howell earned ACC Rookie of the Year and ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. This comes as no surprise as the true freshman finished the regular season with 3,347 passing yards and 35 touchdowns.
Howell is the fifth UNC player to win ACC Rookie of the Year honors. He will join Amos Lawrence, Darrell Nicholson, Leon Johnson, and Dre’ Bly with this special award.
Those 35 touchdowns are an impressive statistic. Via UNC Athletics, here is how those numbers stack up this year and historically:
What to know about @Sam_Howell2’s 35 TD passes this year:
— Carolina Football (@TarHeelFootball) December 4, 2019
- 4th most in the nation
- Most in the ACC
- Most by a freshman
- Most ever by an FBS true freshman
- 2nd most ever by an ACC frosh QB
- Most ever by a UNC QB
- 4th most ever by an ACC QB#CarolinaFootball #BeTheOne pic.twitter.com/STo40Pi2dZ
His 3,347 passing yards rank 12th in the nation and best in the ACC. As mentioned above, his 35 touchdowns were 4th in the nation and best in the league. Here is Howell’s final stat line for the regular season, along with national and conference ranks for each:
Sam Howell 2019 Regular Season Statistics
| Rankings | Completions | Attempts | Yards | Completion Percentage | Average | Long | Touchdowns | Interceptions | Passer Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rankings | Completions | Attempts | Yards | Completion Percentage | Average | Long | Touchdowns | Interceptions | Passer Rating |
| 2019 Stats | 234 | 388 | 3347 | 60.3 | 8.6 | 68 | 35 | 7 | 158.9 |
| National Rank | T-29th | 24th | T-12th | 63rd | 17th | 108th | 4th | T-67th | 14th |
| ACC Rank | 3rd | 3rd | 1st | 7th | 2nd | 6th | 1st | T-4th | 2nd |
Voting was submitted by the ACC’s 14 head coaches and a 46-member select media panel. As seen below, it was not a close race. Howell was the clear favorite. Here are the complete voting results:
ACC Rookie of the Year
- Sam Howell, QB, North Carolina - 49
- Gregory Rousseau, DE, Miami - 7
- Javian Hawkins, RB, Louisville - 4
ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year
- Sam Howell, QB, North Carolina - 54
- Javian Hawkins, RB, Louisville - 4
- Tyler Vrabel, OT, Boston College - 1
- Jarren Williams, QB, Miami - 1
Congratulations to Sam Howell!