Mack Brown explains why getting Tez Walker in last week was important

There was a stretch of time when the reality of the situation around UNC WR Tez Walker had sunk in. However, after finally getting to make his Tar Heel debut, Mack Brown is actually glad that it’s now behind them.

Brown spoke about Walker’s first appearance versus Syracuse in a 40-7 UNC win during his press conference on Monday. He said it’s good to have it out of the way now because all of the chatter and expectations will go away. That will make it easier for Walker to start to focus solely on just competing.

“The fact that he has gotten some plays now means that the pressure of ‘What’s going to happen when I walk out there the first time?’, ‘All our eyes are on me’? Somebody said, ‘How many plays is it going to take before he scores?’. I thought what an awful situation for that poor kid,” said Brown. “He never played, he hadn’t been in a game!”

“So, now, we’re through with the Tez talk, we’re through with should he have been eligible. All of that’s gone,” Brown said. “It’s time to play.”

Walker began his career in Chapel Hill with six catches for 43 yards against the Orange. That was good for second on the team in receptions for the day while being fourth in receiving yards – a decent start considering he hadn’t played a snap of in-game football since the end of last November at Kent State.

Whether right or wrong, Walker did end up missing four games where he could have played for the Tar Heels. Now, with that matter handled, Brown is excited for him to be able to just be one of the other names on their roster as he goes about the rest of the season.

“He is now a player on this football team like all the rest of them. It’ll be great moving forward.”

Drake Maye analyzes Walker’s transition back into UNC’s offense

Early this season, QB Drake Maye and the North Carolina Tar Heels had to find a way to succeed on offense without star WR Tez Walker. Then, ahead of the Syracuse game, North Carolina got the news that Walker was cleared to play.

With that news, he had to transition back into the offense for the Tar Heels, which could have gone awkwardly. Even so, it seemingly went pretty easily against Syracuse. Drake Maye spoke ahead of their next game against Miami and shared how the process of transitioning Walker back into the offense has gone.

“He makes it look smooth,” Maye said. “We’ve got a lot of work after practice still, even when he was ineligible, and kind of just getting back into the groove. Getting him in there and having him and JJ (Jones) and those outside guys bounce playing different spots. And adjusting to the news of having Tez back for full.”