CHAPEL HILL – When D.J. Jones caught a dump-off from Drake Maye and raced 42 yards into the end zone with 2:50 remaining in North Carolina’s win at Appalachian State last Saturday, he became the seventh Tar Heel to notch a touchdown reception on the short season.
He was the fourth different Heel to do so at Kidd Brewer Stadium that afternoon, matching the number from a week earlier when UNC opened its season with a win over Florida A&M.
Two games into the campaign, Carolina is spreading the wealth. Seven different players have touchdown receptions already, a staggering figure given that the prolific 2020 team that played in the Orange Bowl and set the school scoring record didn’t have a seventh player score a touchdown reception until the fifth game when Josh Downs got one in a victory over NC State.
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His score that afternoon was just the tenth receiving touchdown of the season for the Heels. Through two games here in 2022, Carolina has nine. And its quarterback is digging the idea of having so many options each time he drops back to pass.
“I think the biggest benefit is not feeling forced to feed one guy,” redshirt freshman Drake Maye said. “And I think all the guys here cheer for each other. Nobody’s over on the sideline mad that they’re not getting the ball. It also makes it tough on the defense game-planning us.
“They’ve got seven or eight guys they’ve got to worry about that all can do different thing they do differently, and they do them well. So, that makes it tough on defensive coordinators.”
There is almost a video-game thing going on here, in which Maye can almost click something and voila, a different Tar Heel catches the ball either in the end zone or racing toward the goal line. The idea of stressing defenses so they're overly cognizant of each tar Heel that steps on the field is very much by design.
A year ago, Carolina had just one player finish with more than 31 catches, and that was Downs, who set single-season UNC marks with 101 receptions and 1,335 receiving yards. But not having many other options (Antoine Green caught 31 balls) allowed defenses to focus on Downs, thus after scoring at least one touchdown in each of the first seven games, he had none over the final six.
Making defenses defend everything is an offensive coordinator’s deepest desire.
“More athletes makes you a better coach, that’s just how it is,” UNC play-caller Phil Longo said earlier this week.
And so does having a bunch of athletes who can run a bevy of routes and make life miserable for defenses once then get the ball.
“It just forces (them), from a personnel standpoint, to have to defend everybody, which makes it more difficult,” Longo said. “And then schematically, we’re trying to stretch the field pre-snap horizontally form sideline to sideline, and we’re going to stretch it vertically post-snap regardless of what we’re running.
“So, if we can make them defend all the players and make them defend all of the field, it gives us the best opportunity to create some space and hopefully a big play.”
That is exactly how things have played out two games in. Maye is 53-for-73 with 646 yards, nine TDs and no interceptions. But this isn’t just about passing, catching, and running. The running thing, yes, but more conventionally in addition to the aerial attack.
Three different Tar Heels have scored on the ground six times, making it 10 players who have offensive touchdowns already. Putting defenses on their heels comes from both ground and air is a double-whammy to opponents.
The nine touchdown passes are averaging 18.2 yards per. The six scoring runs average 15 yards per. Combined, the 15 offensive touchdowns have gone for an average of 16.9 yards per score. Eight have been 21 yards or longer.
As for the passing part, UNC did it last weekend with as green a room as one will find at the major college football level.
J.J. Jones, Gavin Blackwell, and Kobe Paysour arrived to UNC in the class of 2021, and a year ago combined to play 68 offensive snaps. Jones had 61, and Blackwell and Paysour played just three each. But with Downs and Green not playing at App State, the trio combined to play 191 snaps. Their production: 13 receptions for 197 yards, and each scored.
“That’s what Coach Longo keeps preaching. Gavin got some big-time ballgame reps, and when AG comes back and Josh can play inside and outside, it just creates more depth. I think J.J. and Gavo got a little tired out there, so maybe 60 or 70 plays may be a lot for them, but even rotating them out getting 30-40 for each player (can go) a hundred percent, full-speed, they’ll be tough to handle.”
Carolina’s prolific start has been with Green not yet playing and Downs missing the game in Boone, so the production across the board couldn’t be a better sign moving forward the Longo, Maye, and the Tar Heels.