No Shortage of Talent for Tar Heels in WR Room

CHAPEL HILL – At the risk of overdoing it some, here it goes: Everywhere you look inside North Carolina’s wide receiver room is a player with major dude-like qualities.

The room is that talented, that deep, and that good.

It has plenty of speed, it has good length, it has an abundance of slot guys, ones comfortable on the outside and burning, slanting, crossing, and inline guys who can do a little of everything. Carolina is loaded at receiver, so much that head coach Mack Brown says settling on a rotation will take time and be a task.

“There are a lot of wide receivers there that all can play,” Brown said. “We’ve got to figure out what six are going to get most of the reps.”

The group is also coached by one of the best in the nation. Lonnie Galloway’s track record is awfully impressive, with some of his best work in Chapel Hill. Consider the names: Dyami Brown; Dazz Newsome; Josh Downs; Antoine Green; Tez Walker.

“Every starting receiver for Lonnie Galloway since he’s been here is in the NFL, and that’s pretty powerful,” Brown said.

A qualifier on that stat is he meant each one whose last college stop was UNC. Four, however, were home grown.

Some of the players in the room this fall likely will end up in the NFL, as well. J.J. Jones and Nate McCollum are experienced veterans who can do plenty on the field. When healthy, Kobe Paysour is electrifying and highly productive. And the “young ones” in the group, as Brown likes to call them, have Sunday potential, too.

But first, the vets.

At times last season, McCollum trolled opposing defenses. He caught 27 passes over a three-game stretch starting in September, including 15 in a win over Minnesota. For the season, McCollum finished second on the Tar Heels with 44 receptions despite missing three games.

He accumulated 469 yards, one touchdown, 20 first downs, and did this on 67 targets. His performance included six drops. The latter was a departure from the norm for McCollum, who had only one drop on 79 targets with the Yellow Jackets in 2022.

When at Georgia Tech in 2022, McCollum caught 60 passes from three different starting quarterbacks. At UNC, he ran routes for the third overall pick in the NFL Draft, Drake Maye. Now, there’s a quarterback battle going on, a lefthanded veteran in Max Johnson, and a righthanded redshirt sophomore in Conner Harrell. So McCollum is adjusting again. But he’s fine with it because It’s old hat by now.

“It’s about making adjustments and communicating with the quarterbacks on and off the field, in the film room,” McCollum said. “See what they want, because they’re going to play different, they’re going to think differently, everybody’s not going to be the same.”

Jones missed the spring with an injury but is coming off a season in which he led Carolina with 46 receptions for 711 yards, plus he scored three touchdowns. He has 74 catches in his career.

A two-year starter, Jones has crafted himself into a dependable receiver who is continuing to better use his nearly 6-foot-3 height and length. Add supreme intelligence and Jones is one level away from being that guy.

“Just using my height, using my size,” Jones said. “There's a lot of smaller corners in college football, so me being six-two, six-three, it's easier for me to use my body to adjust to the back shoulder balls or the balls that are kind of high.

“But me using my wingspan and my physical tools is probably the best thing for me to use on the field. That's what makes me different from everybody else.”

Brown said the length, and how Jones is learning to best use it, are noteworthy qualities.

“The NFL people will tell you that height will make up for a little bit less speed because you've got a height differential on most cornerbacks,” Brown said. “He's got that advantage. He can jump, he can catch, he's got great time, he's got tremendous hands.”

Paysour has shown flashes of next-level stuff, too. But he suffered an injury five games into the season and did not return. He was on schedule to play in Carolina’s bowl game, but suffered the same injury on the other foot and needed another surgery.

Then, toward the end of spring practice, Paysour required another surgery, though one Brown called “minor,” it still set him back. That said, the expectation is he will be ready to roll once fall camp begins.

If healthy, UNC has a potential gem on its hands. He can run every route inside and outside, over the middle, deep, outs, literally anything. And he can move. Shifty, quick, and fast.

Even in just those five contests, Paysour was still sixth on the team in receptions with 22 for 282 yards and three scores. Has 51 catches on 66 targets in his career with seven touchdowns.

Gavin Blackwell, a former 4-star prospect, has been banged up at times and continues to work toward consistency. He had nine catches last season and 27 for his career.

And then there are the young ones.

Christian Hamilton and Chris Culliver are in their second year, and both could be ready to explode, especially Culliver. He made one eye-popping play after another in the spring, and will open fall camp threatening to take reps from one of the veterans.

“Chris has got speed like Tez Walker, and he’s tall, he’s got length,” Brown said.

Hamilton will challenge for a rotation spot, as will true freshman Jordan Shipp. The staff really likes fellow newbies Alex Taylor and Vari Green, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see either get some meaningful snaps this fall. But Shipp is the one with immediate star-in-the-making potential.

Listed at 6-foot-1.5 and 190 pounds, Shipp looks bigger, plays bigger, and has all of the other attributes of a big-play receiver.

“Those young receivers, I’m really excited about them,” offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey said. “When you talk about Jordan Shipp and Alex Taylor and Vari Green, those guys are the three that have really come in and kind of jumped in.”

How many of them jump into the rotation in the fall remains to be seen. But talent, depth, and enough experience are not at all issues for the Tar Heels.