Greene Making His Move For Spot In WR Rotation

CHAPEL HILL – As North Carolina’s coaches look to fill six spots in their wide receiver rotation, it appears more and more than redshirt freshman Andre Greene could be in that group.

The uber-talented Greene has put forth his best practices as a Tar Heel of late, notably last Thursday when he really stood out in the team’s scrimmage before departing for Easter.

“Andre by far had his best scrimmage on Thursday, so he is getting in that mix, and that’s important,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said.

A high 4-star prospect from Richmond, VA, in the class of 2022, Greene didn’t enroll until last summer, and he took all season trying to assimilate body and mind to major college football. He played in four games before getting 72 snaps in the loss to Oregon in the Holiday Bowl. He played in that game once the NCAA granted a waiver not counting bowl games against players’ four-game maximum to still quality for a redshirt.

Greene caught three passes for 26 yards, including a six-yard touchdown pass from Drake Maye in the first quarter. But he still had a ton of growing and mending of his talents to accomplish.

Brown and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey say they want a six-man rotation at receiver, and have both identified transfers Tez Walker (Kent State) and Nate McCollum (Georgia Tech) along with returnees Gavin Blackwell and Kobe Paysour as locks for the group. Two more spots open, and one could go to 2022 starter J.J. Jones, who is out this spring recovering from an injury.

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That opens the door for Greene.

“Andre Greene is definitely one of the guys,” Lindsey said last week. “He’s taking those steps forward. And I think for him just playing with confidence all the time, and being able to let his natural ability to take over.

“Sometimes, guys get out and they think too much and slow themselves down. We just want him to go relax and play, and he’s done a better job at that.”

Expectations were high for Greene when he got to Chapel Hill. But each athlete has his own process, Greene included. And some kids struggle with matching their high school rankings, and it can wear on them.

“Sometimes, if you’re not careful, you get all these stars and all these offers, and then the pressure and standard is set so high that it’s hard for a freshman to come in and live up to that immediately…,” Brown said. “We felt like it’s taken him to this point to be ready to go.”

And Greene is awfully close to being right where the staff wants.

“We feel like it’s really important for Andre to step up,” Brown said. “(WR coach) Lonnie (Galloway) actually played him with the blues on Thursday some, and got him out there with Drake some to step up and go.”

And Greene did well, inching him closer to a coveted spot in the rotation.