WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) 鈥� Gio Lopez has found comfort with the familiar, even in a new place.
The left-handed quarterback has moved on from the spotlight of NFL coaching great Bill Belichick’s first college season at North Carolina. , another in-state Atlantic Coast Conference school had a successful debut season under its new coach Jake Dickert.
And Lopez knows exactly what to expect with offensive coordinator Rob Ezell, who helped him thrive before at South Alabama.
鈥淚t gives me a lot of comfort, also just being with him in the spring,鈥� Lopez said during the first week of the Demon Deacons’ preseason camp. “I didn鈥檛 get to experience the spring last year. So just being back with him, being comfortable with Coach Ezell, knowing him since I was 16 years old. So he鈥檚 known me like the back of his hand.
鈥淪o I just trust his play calls. I never really question his judgment. Just able to go out there with full-blown trust and belief in him.鈥�
Lopez joins a program coming off a fast start under Dickert
Lopez’s transfer feels a lot farther than the 85 miles that separate the Wake Forest and UNC campuses.
A year ago, he was jumping into preseason camp at UNC as Belichick 鈥� who led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles 鈥� prepared for a closely watched transition to college. Lopez hadn’t committed to UNC until after spring practices, so every camp snap marked his first live work there.
He won the starting job and had a 39-yard deep ball on his first throw during a season-opening touchdown drive, but things went badly from there. UNC lost in a blowout that ended with Lopez needing surgery for .
The vibes are different at Wake Forest. This is an elite private school with the smallest undergraduate enrollment (about 5,600) of any power conference program, to get here.
Yet Dickert’s first team surprised by going 9-4 in a season before . That offense leaned more on the run game to adapt to the strengths of NFL-bound back Demond Claiborne and the offensive line, but the plan is to shift closer to Ezell’s preferred approach in Year 2.
Lopez arrived knowing that scheme well. Now he’s busy scrambling around with a green No. 3 jersey and sporting the team’s black helmet with gold WF lettering, battling a defense expected to be a strength again. Monday’s first official practice included some turnovers and miscues against that unit, but Lopez might be better equipped to push through setbacks after his UNC stint.
鈥淗e’s used the term with me: 鈥業鈥檝e never failed that loud before,'” Dickert told The Associated Press, “meaning that spotlight, that scene, that hype. Failure is life’s greatest teacher. I think he’s really taken that and he’s turned whatever people would perceive as failure, he’s internalized that word in a very mature way. In his book, that’s learning, growing and getting better.鈥�
Lopez aims to apply lessons learned from UNC stint
Lopez threw for 1,747 yards and 10 touchdowns while running for 133 yards and three scores in 11 games last year, which included being knocked from two games due to injury. He never threw for more than 216 yards in a game, with every outing offering constant scrutiny .
“Something I remember, but I fumbled in like the second quarter,鈥� Lopez said last month. 鈥淚 remember the first question being like, 鈥榃hen you fumbled, did you feel like you weren’t going to go back in the game, you were going to get benched?’
鈥淚 was like, 鈥榃ow, we won the game.鈥� It was stuff like that, something that I never had to experience.鈥�
Yet rewind to a year earlier, and Lopez’s performance under Ezell at South Alabama offers hope.
Lopez threw for 2,559 yards and 18 touchdowns with the Sun Belt program, including to open that 2024 season. He averaged 8.2 yards per attempt, 1.5 yards better than his output at UNC.
He also ran for 465 yards and seven scores for the Jaguars, including . Lopez had three other games of at least 50 yards on the ground 鈥� a threshold he never reached with the Tar Heels.
“Anything that went on, I鈥檓 just thankful for,鈥� Lopez said. “I don鈥檛 regret anything that happened. I got to make a bond with Coach Belichick that I鈥檓 super thankful for, and not a lot of people can say they did. I learned a lot from him and I鈥檓 just super thankful for everything that happened.鈥� ___
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