Fall Camp Report, Practice 10: Offense (Nesbit & Paysour)

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina held its 10th practice of fall camp Tuesday morning, and afterward, Tar Heels offensive players Bryson Nesbit and Kobe Paysour met with the media via zoom to field questions about themselves, their position groups, dealing with not having Antoine Green for a while, and more.

Below are full videos of their interviews along with some notes and pulled quotes from what they had to say:

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As a true freshman last season, Nesbit appeared in 11 games and caught seven passes for 154 yards and a touchdown, which went for 47 yards. He played 89 snaps on offense, grading out at 75.0 for the season, according to PFF. He was also in for 89 plays on special teams only on the kickoff and punt return units.

*Nesbit has worked a lot at receiver as well as slot. He is highly athletic for a tight end and can run all of the routes in any pass-catching role. At 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds, he has the potential to turn into a big-time option for the Tar Heels.

His reps are coming all over the place in camp, plus the Heels are going to use more dual-tight end sets this season.

“We’re definitely going to use a lot more tight ends,” Nesbit said. “Me, Kamari (Morales) and John (Copenhaver), we’ve all had a lot of reps in slot, and we’ve had some outside and tight end. But for me, mostly I’ve been throughout the three spots.

“Sometimes, I’m in there with Kamari, sometimes I’m in there with John, sometimes all three of us are in there at the same time. We’ve been doing good opening the offense back up to the tight ends.”

*To stay on that, Nesbit is getting in work with the receivers every day in practice. And as for how he’s used, he didn’t give away too much, but here is what he did say:

“Right now, it’s pretty open to everything,” he said. “I’ve run the same offense that all of our outside receivers are running right now. We definitely have our redzone packages, and all of that, but all of us have been able to go anywhere in the offense.

*Nesbit is a natural wide receiver because of his athletic ability, plus he played in a lot of 7-on-7 stuff in high school.

“I’d say it was pretty natural coming from high school,” he said. “Definitely playing 7-on-7 in high school as well, all of that was playing outside receiver. It’s fun. I love doing it. I love blocking on the outside, I love blocking on the inside, so it’s been real fun.”

*From afar, tight ends and receivers look very different because in most cases they are. Their routes and responsibilities don’t carry many similarities. But Nesbit is a different kind of athlete, and he easily meshes from one to the other. There aren’t any major mental adjustments he must make.

“I wouldn’t really say so,” he replied, noting there isn’t any difference mentally for him playing either tight end or receiver. “I would say wherever I am I try to be the most aggressive receiver I can, because if I’m going against DBs, aggression will help me, and especially if I’m going against linebackers, aggression as a receiver will help me.”

A redshirt freshman wide receiver, Paysour saw action in just one game last season, UNC’s win over Georgia State in the second contest of the campaign. He played three snaps in that game.

Paysour was a 3-star prospect out of Kings Mountain (NC) High School in the class of 2021.

­*With senior Antoine Green out for 6-10 weeks after suffering an upper body injury in the scrimmage last Saturday, the receiver room is down to just seven scholarship players, two of whom arrived this summer as true freshmen. Paysour is one of the players in that group, but is still quite green given he played only three snaps last fall.

Carolina is going to rely on a bunch of players, outside of record-setter Josh Downs, and Justin Olson, who played quite a bit last season but caught only nine passes for 143 yards. But Paysour says the young guys in the room are ready to respond.

“Me, Gavo (Gavin Blackwell), J.J. (Jones), we’re all ready to step up,” Paysour said. “We’ve really been waiting on our turn, so this is a great opportunity to show ourselves and step up to the challenge.”

*Paysour has drawn praise multiple times this month from teammates and coaches because he is playing well. So, what is his self-scouting report?

“I feel like I’m mostly a deep-ball threat, and a short-route kind of guy,” Paysour said. “I can do anything, really that the coaches tell me to do.”

*Paysour is just under 6-foot-2 and weighs 185 pounds. He has the size to handle a lot of receiver roles, but also the speed to get by people. So where is he mainly lining up through the first half of fall camp?

“I play mostly inside, that’s my primary position,” he said. “But since Antoine is out, they’ve got me switching in and out, so I’m adjusting to the outside. I know all the outside routes, so I’m just playing outside and inside.”

*Paysour is okay with having to block. He’s a big player and doesn’t mind the physicality, but he really wants to just get out there and get by people.

“I just like deep balls, you know,” he said, smiling. “I like to go get the ball.”

*Paysour’s name didn’t really come up at all during his first year in Chapel Hill, but it has quite a bit of late, so what has that process been for him going from a newbie feeling his way around to where he is clearly in the rotation?

“The process has been learning the plays, getting to be on pack, and just going out there and just being me,” he said. “Just being able to have fun on the field and being myself.”

So, what does “being me” mean from a football preparation and mindset standpoint?

“I’m just really passionate about the game,” he said. “I just feel like this is what I love to do, I really love football.”