Max Johnson OUT For The Season + What It Means For UNC | THI Podcast

[Music] what is up everybody and welcome back to tarhill Illustrated decom I'm Jacob Turner here hopping on a quick solo podcast to talk about the news surrounding North Carolina quarterback Max Johnson who was hurt in the third quarter of North Carolina's 19-7 win over Minnesota on Thursday night in Minneapolis sure if you're watching this by now you've seen the news or read the statement surrounding Max Johnson the injury picked up which was sent out and made public uh I'm recording this around six o'clock you know a couple hours ago now I think it came out a little after 4M but I'm going to go ahead and just read the statement real quick and we'll discuss what it means and yeah look a little bit ahead because it is an unfortunate one and just unfortunate news from Max Johnson all the way around who's dealt with injuries over the past couple Seasons really um and it's just unfortunate all the way around but I'll read the statement right here update on UNCC QB Max Johnson this was again released by the program earlier UNCC QB Max Johnson underwent successful surgery in Minneapolis to repair a broken right leg on Friday Johnson who was accompanied by his parents in Minnesota will return to Chapel Hill in a few days and is expected to make a full recovery he will miss the remainder of the 2024 season in it really says at all right there it's unfortunate all the way around you hate it for Max Johnson I mentioned it earlier but a guy who injuries have just plagued his college career over the last couple Seasons unfortunate injuries too I mean we talked about it me and AJ talked about it um I think on the football show we did uh I guess it was last week now because we ended up recording it uh last Sunday because of the Thursday night game but you know a guy that missed played tried to play through injuries well broke some ribs tried to play through it and ended up breaking more ribs and missing the rest of the season uh broke his hand as well he's just a guy that has dealt with injuries before and I think the most unfortunate part and what you really feel for him is you know gets hurt through doesn't even make it through three quarters in the season opener a lot of you know the starting guy was the guy taking um all the snaps before he got hurt yesterday against Minnesota and 12 for 19 71 yards obviously had that rushing touchdown to open the scoring for North Carolina um and then you know unfortunately through the interception as well but again I don't want to really sit here and analyze his performance I don't want to sit here and analyze anything like that I think there was plenty of that on Twitter and on the message boards yesterday and rightly so with it being you know the first Glimpse we've seen of Max Johnson but again I don't think that's appropriate and I don't think that's necessary here because of of the news that has has broke with him missing the rest of the season you just absolutely hate it for him you really do and I think that's the main takeaway here is put all the stats aside and your opinions on maybe what kind of quarterback could have been this season for North Carina or your opinions on what you saw against Minnesota in those you know you know almost three quarters from Max Johnson I I don't want to talk about that it's it's just unfortunate all the way around that that he's not going to be able to play for the rest of the season and again especially when you look at his injury history and the way it happened too because you saw it during the play and you you can sit here and say a guy's injury prone and to throw you know criticisms like that I'm not here to do that because the way he got had that hurt in that game has nothing to do with that it was just an absolutely unfortunate situation one of those tackles that you know nine times out of 10 probably doesn't result in an injury much less a season ending injury it was just one of those things and I remember when I was saw the Replay live on TV I was like oh that that justes not look good I I originally thought it was his knee and then I know there was some quotes that came out after the game last night from MC Brown saying that he you know he thought it was a hip injury and then obviously it comes out being that he broke his right leg so just yeah just an allaround unfortunate situation I don't really think there's anything else you can really say about it besides that so let's talk about what this means because I do think we need to hit on that here and kind of discuss that part of it in this because we saw Conor herrold come in after Max Johnson went out injured yesterday and two for four 34 yards passing no only four attempts so not a lot of attempts there Carolina really rode Omari on Hampton because of how you know obviously how good he is and because the Run game was there he rushed for 129 yards on 30 carries um didn't score in the game but he he was a a primary reason Carolina was able to get down the field and and get those field goals that they needed especially one that that Noah Bernette hit late to to give Carolina the lead and you know Minnesota ends up missing a field goal late on that that would have won it but you have to give credit to Conor har in the offense for at least being able to get those when he came in so um yeah it's the Conor har show now I mean at the end of the day that's what it is is there was a lot of we me and AJ have talked about it a lot but there was a lot of talk and a lot of um hoping from Carolina fans and and kind of willing in the Willing on in the in the preseason about we Conor Harold should be the guy Conor harell I want Carol H to be the guy Max Johnson's shouldn't start Conor Harold should be the starter when there was no evidence to suggest that Harold was ready to be the starter and there was more evidence to suggest when you look at her uh excuse me Johnson's experience and what he done at the college level that okay it makes sense that this guy's at least going to be given the keys to start out obviously he's he's out for the year now and it's the Connor Harold show and it's going to be you know his job to lose at this point I mean jacobe Criswell behind him we we talked about in the in the offseason all the time how it was never a three-horse race it was always between Johnson and Herold Max joh excuse me m brown in his press conference before the Minnesota game talking about how they were planning on rotating quarterbacks we didn't really get to see that maybe we would have seen it a little bit more if Johnson you know would have made it through the game and maybe would have seen it over the next few games more packages for Conor Herold but again none of that matters now because Johnson's out for the year so yeah I think a lot of people left last night's game worried about the offense and I completely understand that I'm I'm I'm in the same boat there I didn't really see enough from Max Johnson when he was in to to really feel comfortable about the position and you know same thing with Harold when he came in I didn't really see enough from him and in his in his Cameo to really sit here and be like yeah I think Carolina's going to be fine at quarterback I think that's amazing question mark going into the rest of the year and I think it's even more unfortunate now obviously with Johnson being out but it's more unfortunate because okay you couldn't even make it through a game and now you're down to you're down a quarterback and not much less you're down the guy that was given the keys to start it out and who the coaching staff obviously had the most confidence in to go out there and Lead this program so yeah it remains to be seen I think the good news for North Carolina is the stretch that's coming up because I do think you have very winnable games three in a row at home against Charlotte Central and James Madison so you've got some getright games again Carolina will have to play well in those games to win them we saw what happened last night with NC State against Western Carolina if you don't show up and you're not ready to play you can get beat by just about anybody so by no means are these gimme games going up but I think if you're when you look at it objectively and you say okay you got the win over Minnesota very legitimate chance to start 4-0 now with those three games straight games at home coming up not a bad situation to be trying to bet a quarterback in and not only that but try to get some Rhythm for an offense that just is is so new now especially in the trenches with so many new faces down there and I do think they struggled a little bit we'll talk about that more in the football show coming up later this week um ahead of the the charlot game but you've also got a quarterback back there now that needs to just get comfortable in the position get comfortable being the starter and the guy that's going to be taking the Reps now and just get comfortable being being the guy with the keys because he is now there is no rot that's going to go on now again there's no reason to believe that Chiswell is going to be thrown into the mix if Harold does struggle maybe that becomes an option I know that would probably be worst case scenario for North Carolina because if chriswell is giving an opportunity it's because Harold has not been able to take advantage of of being the starter so yeah it's it's just a fluid situation now and we'll have to see how Conor Herold does but I think there is there should there's reasons to be optimistic about the talent he has and the potential he may have maybe now that he's the starter his performances go up because there is that security a little bit around his job of okay I don't really have to be you know Max Johnson was the guy I was supposed to be rotating with him he's out now and now it's my time and to step up and and take over you know what is I think the saying goes you know pressure makes diamonds maybe the you know maybe the the fact now that there will be a little bit more pressure on CR Herold to be the guy maybe he steps up in that situation and maybe you know he takes the keys and he runs with it and you know he never looks back and he ends up being a really good good quarterback for North Carolina it remains to be seen I don't think you can look at anything you saw against Minnesota and feel confident in that I just don't but we'll see what happens over these next few weeks and we'll see what happens going into the remainder of the season because he's definitely has the opportunity now and is the guy so yeah again just to reiterate Max Johnson out for the season underw surgery and on Friday on a a broken right leg so just a incredibly unfortunate situation all the way around for him I think I probably said unfortunate 15 times in this video already so I'm going to I'm going to get off here in a second and stop repeating myself but we want to hear from you guys head on over to tarhill Illustrated docomo just 833 a month we had an awesome promo recently too so if you missed that unfortunate but again you can still sign up it it's you know less than a drive-through meal as AJ always likes to say so also you can get involved on Twitter heal Illustrated and reach out to me let let me know what you think I'll retweet this and I'm sure I'll tweet this video out so it'll be uh you know it's Jacob Turner thi you just we want to hear from you guys I know we have our comments turned off on YouTube so you can't can't do that easily but um yeah let's do this like the video below if you think Connor herrell has the potential to take over and be the guy for North Carolina and will do a good job as the guy from North Carolina now that he's the you know going to be the starting quarterback moving forward so we want to hear from you guys as always plenty of ways to get involved that I just discuss and all those links that are in the description below for socials as well you can also get involved on Facebook too and like I mentioned earlier our premium message boards which you'll have access to if you're a premium subscriber at tarheelillustrated.com hate we had to hop on a podcast and talk this but again it is what it is and it's the reality and the situation that Carolina is in now but want to just say this before we head out thoughts and prayers of ma Johnson and hope he makes a a speedy and full recovery I've been Jacob Turner for T Hill Illustrated Doom we appreciate you guys watching as always and we'll see y'all next time thanks