UNC Commit Travis Burgess' Path to Starting Could be Altered

Originally posted on North Carolina Tar Heels on SI
By Caleb Sisk | Last updated Aug 28, 2025 4:00 PM ET

The North Carolina Tar Heels have many different players that are considered standouts who are already committed to them in the 2026 recruiting class, as they landed multiple players at multiple different levels of high school football, thanks to the amount of recruiting talent that Bill Belichick in his staff have, despite many of them having an NFL background.

The Tar Heels have done their job with a plethora of different stars in the class, including landing arguably their most talented commit in the class with their quarterback commit in the 2026 recruiting class in Georgia.

The Tar Heels continue to do a good job with their quarterback commit, who has remained solid at this time and hasn't shown any signs of flipping. That quarterback is Travis Burgess, who is one of the better players in the class and I commit from Grayson, who won the state championship last year over another talented quarterback, as he helped defeat Julian Lewis , and his talented squad, before Luis made his trip to Boulder to go play for Deion Sanders in Colorado.

Burgess recently went down with a major injury, which was quite unfortunate, as this was one of the most devastating situations that could have happened, as it is safe to say that he is someone who had the chance to make a real difference at the high school season this year.

Burgess, someone who had plenty of potential to go back-to-back when it comes to state title wins, but that is no longer the case after his injury, which could also affect the outcome of how things go down to start next season with the North Carolina Tar Heels.

How the Injury Could Change Burgess's Path to Starting

One thing worth noting is the fact that the North Carolina Tar Heels have plenty of young talent at the quarterback position. The starting quarterback for this season is the only player who could enter the NFL draft following this season, aside from Max Johnson, who is the backup at this time.

Their starter, Gio Lopez, a redshirt sophomore, while Johnson is set to be out of eligibility, so that leaves many different players to compete for the job next year if Lopez isn't capable of keeping it or staying.

The only player that was said to be in Burgess's way was Bryce Baker for the most part, aside from Lopez, as Burgess was set to be a competitor for the starting job, while Lopez was no longer there, although I anticipate that he will stay the course.

If Lopez decides to move on, then this injury could very well impact Burgess's chance of winning the starting job, as it will take a while for him to recover, and he very well could fall behind in the race with Baker for the starting position.

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This article first appeared on North Carolina Tar Heels on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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