UNC Football: The Most Important Player Against TCU May Not Be Billy Edwards

There may not be a player on North Carolina’s roster who has received more attention this offseason than Billy Edwards Jr., and that is exactly what should happen when a program enters a new season with questions at quarterback. Edwards was brought to Chapel Hill to provide experience and stability at a position that has been a source of uncertainty, and his performance against TCU will immediately shape the conversation surrounding North Carolina football. If he plays well, the Tar Heels could leave Dublin believing they have found the quarterback capable of leading them through the season. If he struggles, the questions about the position will return before the plane gets home.

But Edwards may not be the most important player on the field for North Carolina against TCU.

That distinction could belong to a player whose name is unlikely to be mentioned very often during the broadcast unless something goes wrong.

Christo Kelly.

That may sound strange when the conversation surrounding UNC has centered so heavily on Edwards and the quarterback position, but the first game of the season is going to tell us as much about the Tar Heels’ offensive line as it does about their new quarterback. North Carolina is rebuilding up front, and Kelly finds himself in the middle of that transition at the position where communication, protection and consistency become especially important. The quarterback may ultimately determine how many points UNC scores, but Kelly could have a great deal to do with whether Edwards ever gets comfortable enough to make those plays.

That is what makes Kelly such an interesting answer to this question. He is not the player most people will identify when they look at the matchup with TCU. He is not going to generate the same preseason discussion as Edwards, and he is unlikely to become a household name because of one afternoon in Ireland. But if he controls the middle of the offensive line, handles his assignments and gets the protection calls right, Edwards can spend the afternoon doing what North Carolina brought him to Chapel Hill to do rather than trying to survive behind a struggling offensive front.

Kelly also brings something this offensive line desperately needs: experience. He started at center for North Carolina against TCU last season before an injury limited him to just two games, and his path to Chapel Hill included a productive season at Holy Cross in 2024, where he started all 12 games at center, earned first-team All-Patriot League honors and served as a team captain. He was part of an offensive line that allowed just 1.08 sacks per game. That experience matters when the player standing over the football is also responsible for helping organize what happens around him.

The challenge is considerably different at North Carolina, of course, but that is precisely why Kelly's role is so important. The Tar Heels are not simply trying to find five talented players to put on the field. They are trying to establish a functioning unit, and the center is often the player who has to make sure that unit operates as one. Against a TCU defense capable of creating pressure, any communication breakdown or missed assignment could put Edwards in difficult situations before he has a chance to establish himself.

That is where this game could become less about the quarterback and more about the players responsible for protecting him.

We spend so much time evaluating quarterbacks by looking at what they do with the football that it is easy to overlook everything that has to happen before they can make a play. A quarterback needs a clean snap. He needs time to read the defense. He needs to trust that the protection is going to hold long enough for a route to develop. He needs a running game that prevents the defense from knowing exactly what is coming. None of that guarantees success, but without it, even an experienced quarterback can spend an afternoon looking far less capable than he actually is.

Kelly sits directly in the middle of all of that.

If he plays well, you may barely notice him.

That is the strange thing about offensive linemen. Their best performances often disappear into the background. Nobody leaves a game talking about the center who correctly identified every pressure, helped keep the quarterback clean and created just enough movement for the running game to stay on schedule. They talk about the quarterback who threw for three touchdowns or the running back who broke a 60-yard run. The offensive lineman becomes part of the infrastructure that allowed those things to happen rather than the story itself.

That could be exactly what happens with Kelly against TCU.

If Edwards throws for 300 yards and North Carolina wins, the conversation will be about Edwards. If the running game suddenly looks much better than expected, the conversation will be about the running backs and the offensive line as a whole. If UNC's defense creates turnovers and gives the offense short fields, the defensive players will get the credit. Kelly could have an excellent afternoon and walk off the field without becoming part of any of those conversations.

And that would probably mean he did his job.

The opposite is where things get interesting. If TCU consistently gets pressure up the middle, if Edwards is forced to speed up his reads or if North Carolina cannot establish any rhythm in the running game, the questions will immediately return to the quarterback. Was Edwards good enough? Did Petrino put him in the right situations? Should North Carolina have gone with another option? Those are the questions that naturally follow quarterback struggles.

But the first question should probably be whether Edwards was ever given a fair opportunity to operate.

That is why Kelly may be the most important player against TCU.

Not because he is expected to make the most spectacular play, but because his performance could influence how many opportunities everyone else gets to make theirs.

North Carolina does not need Kelly to become the star of the game. It needs him to become the player nobody is talking about because everything in front of him is working. If he can keep the middle of the offensive line organized, protect Edwards and help establish enough consistency in the running game to keep TCU honest, the quarterback conversation could become a very different one by the end of the afternoon.

And if that happens, Kelly probably won't get much credit for it.

The announcers will talk about Edwards. The highlights will feature touchdowns. The postgame discussion will focus on whether North Carolina has finally found the quarterback it needed and whether Bill Belichick's second season is beginning differently than his first.

Kelly may barely be mentioned. For an offensive lineman, that might be the ultimate compliment. Because the most important player against TCU may not be the guy throwing the football.

It may be the guy making sure Billy Edwards has enough time to throw it.