Sam Howell had decommitted from Florida State to affix Brown’s program in Chapel Hill and received the beginning job. What Brown and his employees knew of Howell on the time was what he’d proven on movie at Solar Valley Excessive Faculty in Monroe, N.C., and throughout the spring season at North Carolina — hardly sufficient to ensure a easy begin.
“We had completely no concept how he’d reply,” Brown stated. “That simply tells you who he’s.”
Howell guided the Tar Heels to consecutive fourth-quarter comeback victories, exhibiting a uncommon poise and resilience for a teenage quarterback. He’s displayed those self same traits with the Commanders, who named him their beginning quarterback after he’d began only one NFL recreation.
Much like Carolina’s opener again in 2019, Howell will start his tenure because the Commanders’ starter in a pressure-cooker: in entrance of a sellout crowd at FedEx Area Sunday in opposition to the Arizona Cardinals, taking part in for a franchise beneath new possession and with a brand new offense and new play caller.
“I feel the upper I get in my soccer profession, you retain getting extra stress,” Howell stated. “You bought to maintain discovering methods to maintain the noise out and deal with what’s actually essential. I feel I’ve executed an excellent job of that, of holding the primary factor the primary factor.”
All through coaching camp and the preseason, Coach Ron Rivera and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy praised Howell’s examine habits and his even-keeled demeanor on the line of scrimmage. When performs broke down, he didn’t appear rattled. He simply obtained artistic.
“He has the athleticism to get out [of] the pocket to search out the man down the sphere or to scramble for a primary all the way down to make it occur,” Common Supervisor Martin Mayhew stated. “You noticed that throughout the preseason, and so much hasn’t been talked about that, however he’s actually athletic.”
When fights broke out at joint practices with the Baltimore Ravens, Howell stored his cool and refocused the offense.
“He’s very direct to sure guys,” Rivera stated. “… When he will get into the huddle, although, there’s a calmness about him.”
And when he made errors, he normally didn’t make them twice.
“I take that stuff severely,” Howell stated. “I inform [quarterbacks coach] Tavita [Pritchard] that I need to be coached laborious, and if he has one thing to say, say it. I need to know your opinion, I would like your suggestions so I can apply it.”
Bieniemy calls it “auto-correction.” Howell usually is aware of what he did incorrect instantly after doing it, so he’s capable of rapidly nip the issue as an alternative of letting it linger.
He’s been like that for years, based on his father, Duke Howell.
Duke, who was just lately named the pinnacle coach at Cuthbertson Excessive Faculty close to Charlotte, was his son’s offensive coordinator at Solar Valley and has coached him since he began taking part in soccer.
“Sam’s the kind of man that whenever you coach him, he needs solutions,” Duke stated. “He would all the time watch loads of movie to get the inquiries to say, ‘Right here’s the issue: What are we doing right here, and what are we doing right here?’ He’s all the time been that approach. When Sam would ask questions, even in highschool, you’d be like, ‘I hope I’ve the appropriate solutions for him.’”
In the course of the coronavirus pandemic, Howell had further Zoom calls with Carolina’s offensive coordinator, Phil Longo, to reinforce his data of the sport — be it defensive coverages, his protections or whether or not a run play would nonetheless work in sure conditions.
Brown joked that Howell would typically spend extra time than he did at Carolina’s soccer workplaces, watching not simply movie of his workforce and upcoming opponents, but in addition of NFL quarterbacks.
“He wasn’t a man that was going to exit,” Brown stated. “In reality, on Valentine’s Day, I requested him if he obtained a date, and he stated, ‘Yeah, with Madden.’”
In the course of the spring, shortly after Bieniemy was employed because the Commanders’ coordinator, Howell turned on Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tape and went to work together with his private quarterbacks coach.
“He takes work residence, and he loves to speak by means of all of the little detailed nuances of the sport,” Bieniemy stated.
Cornerback Kendall Fuller, who has watched the franchise cycle by means of quarterbacks yearly, realized a bit about Howell a pair weeks into coaching camp.
“He made an out route on me; that [ticks] me off,” Fuller stated in August. “However simply to see him be capable to put these throws in spots [where] DBs can’t get it — I feel the great NFL quarterbacks, that’s what separates [them].”
Howell has stated his second yr within the NFL has been nothing like his first.
“Final yr … you’re simply attempting to get adjusted to every part,” he stated. “You bought a brand new way of life, residing in a brand new metropolis, a brand new workforce and a brand new offense and having a lot extra performs and much more on my plate than what I used to be used to. Every thing simply type of appears so quick. I really feel like I stored getting higher each single week. After which now coming into this yr, I really feel like I got here in with a lot extra confidence.”
Bieniemy’s system is, in some ways, tailor-made to suit Howell’s talent set, together with his mobility, robust arm and affinity for run-pass choices — ideas he ran typically at North Carolina. The play calls are wordy however might be quarterback-friendly as a result of they primarily embrace assignments for each play on offense.
When the performs break down, Howell’s means to create shines.
“I like the talent expertise that now we have round me,” Howell stated. “I feel it’s probably the greatest teams within the NFL, and I feel what E.B. does a extremely good job of is understanding find out how to use these guys and put these guys able to achieve success. In Kansas Metropolis, they’d loads of actually proficient gamers, and clearly they’d Pat [Mahomes], who’s doing such an excellent job. However the talent gamers, E.B. was placing them in an excellent place after which permitting them to make use of their expertise, and I feel we’re going to attempt to do the identical factor right here.”
Howell’s psychological method to the sport and his growth over the previous 5 months have given the Commanders hope that he might have the potential to change into much more than simply the starter for now. Since 2000, Washington has had 27 beginning quarterbacks, and solely two — Jason Campbell and Kirk Cousins — began full, consecutive seasons for the workforce.
Hardly ever does a quarterback taken within the latter rounds of the draft emerge as a long-term starter — though a couple of have for Washington. Many analysts projected Howell to go within the early rounds of the 2022 NFL draft, however he fell to the fifth. However when trying to the longer term, Rivera has contemplated if Howell might develop right into a participant like Brock Purdy, the final choose within the 2022 draft who grew to become the 49ers’ starter in the course of final season.
“You wish to assume that now we have a man that has the identical sort of means and talent set,” Rivera stated in March.
Howell has operated with a narrower lens. Earlier than video games he feels pangs of pleasure — “I’ll all the time have nerves,” he stated — however he filters the noise.
“There’s not many guys which might be drafted the place I’m at, play just one recreation and get this chance,” Howell stated. “I’m tremendous grateful for everybody right here that’s believed in me. Now it’s as much as me to go on the market and show them proper.”