Tez Walker believes big things are ahead for North Carolina's offense

The North Carolina Tar Heels ranked second in the ACC in yards per game and top 20 in the country last season. Their offense even averaged 34.4 points per game, yet there could still possibly be room for improvement. Former Kent State wide receiver Devontez Walker transferred to North Carolina this offseason, and following the Tar Heels’ spring game, spoke on the potential of the team’s offense this year.

“I think we’ve got some big things ahead of us,” Walker said. “I’ve played in this offense before when I was at Kent and we averaged 40 points a game in this offense. It’s a quarterback-friendly offense, so Drake (Maye) should have some high stats in this offense. So we’ll look pretty good down the road.”

Kent State did average 49.8 points and 606.5 yards per game in a small four-game sample size in a shortened 2020 season, but Walker was not on the team yet. In the two seasons that he was with the Golden Flashes, they did still average an impressive 30.7 points and 455.6 yards per game.

The Tar Heels hired new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsay this offseason, who was previously the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at UCF and the head coach at Troy. Under Lindsay, the Knights averaged 32.9 points per game with quarterback John Rhys Plumlee under center. Rhys Plumlee led the team in passing and rushing yards, which freshman phenom Drake Maye did last year for the Tar Heels as well.

Lindsay inherits one of college football’s most elite quarterbacks from a season ago in Maye, and if Walker is right about this offense being quarterback-friendly, then defenses should be in even more fear than they already would be facing him this season. Maye was the ACC Player of the Year and an FWAA Freshman All-American and Freshman of the Year last season for his stellar play in his first season as a starter. He completed 66.2% of his passes for 4,321 yards (fourth in the nation) and 38 touchdown passes (tied for fifth in the nation) along with 698 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.

Maye now joins forces with Walker, who are both Charlotte, North Carolina natives looking to make their mark on the ACC this season. Walker had 58 receptions for 921 yards and 11 touchdowns last season at Kent State, and Maye even connected with him on a 35-yard touchdown pass in North Carolina’s spring game.

Walker was brought in with Georgia Tech transfer wide receiver Nate McCollum as well, as the duo will likely be expected to replace the production of the Tar Heels’ two leading wideouts from last season Josh Downs and Antoine Green, who’ve both declared for upcoming NFL Draft.