Marquise Williams Injury: Updates on North Carolina QB's Hip and Recovery

North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams will be held out of spring practice as he deals with a hip injury. 

Lee Pace of GoHeels.com reported the news, noting that the redshirt senior "will return full speed in August." 

Williams was tremendous for the Heels last season, completing 63.1 percent of his throws for 3,068 yards, 21 touchdowns and nine interceptions. One of the more dynamic signal-callers in the country, he also added 788 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground. 

As ESPN's David Hale noted, his production stood up well against some of the best QB's in America: 

With the Tar Heels returning several starters on offense, there is potential for Williams and Co. to do big things in 2015. As such, any injury is obviously worth paying attention to, but this is likely a case of the team exercising precaution with the season still six months away.

This does open an opportunity for sophomore Mitch Trubisky, who will take first-team reps while Williams is out. Quarterbacks coach Keith Heckendorf admitted the team is staying open-minded when it comes to the depth chart, per The Herald Sun's John McCann: "There’s a lot of continuity with ’Quise coming back. Marquise is our starting quarterback, and it’s been that way since the middle of the season when he kind of took the reins and went with it. But that’s not going to eliminate the competition."

Still, as long as Williams returns healthy for practice in August, he should be the starter as he looks to build on a strong 2014 campaign.