****************************************************************
Remember, for just $8.33 a month, YOU CAN BE A TAR HEELS INSIDER, TOO!!!
*****************************************************************
CHAPEL HILL – Perhaps the best way to have a visual of what Tez Walker may look like this fall running routes and catching passes for North Carolina is to listen to how fellow wide receiver Kobe Paysour described his new teammate toward the end of spring practice.
“Tez burns everybody every time,” Paysour said.
That was the consistent book on Walker throughout the spring, as the former Kent State star almost instantly ingratiated himself into the Carolina culture on and off the field. And it was that ambience that drew in Walker.
He could get to the NFL through Kent, but Walker wanted something more.
“The culture, the vibe from everybody,” Walker said, when asked why he decided on UNC. “Drake, seeing what they was building here.”
Drake is UNC quarterback Drake Maye, a Heisman Trophy contender going into the coming season, and possible top pick in the NFL Draft next spring. Those aren’t the reasons Walker identified him as the QB with whom he wanted to play, he just wanted Maye throwing him darts all over the place.
“He was one of the biggest factors in me coming here,” Walker said.
Maye acknowledged working Walker into becoming a Tar Heel because he wanted a game-changer in the receiver rotation. With Josh Downs and Antoine Green off to the NFL, the Heels needed a boost in that room. The plan is for Walker to deliver that for them.
“Tez, he runs like a gazelle, he’ll beat you deep,” Maye said. “He can also run any route in the tree.”
Walker’s path to Chapel Hill was rather unconventional, especially considering he spent some time just ten miles or so up the road for his first college stop.
With just a 5.4 rating by Rivals and no stars, Walker initially went to NC Central, but left when the school canceled football for the 2020 Covid season. So, he transferred to Kent State, and last year exploded for the Golden Flash.
“Central and UNC are the last two places I thought I’d be,” he said. “I remember being recruited by UNC when (Larry) Fedora was here, and I told him I didn’t like it because the vibe with them. Central, I said I’d never go to Central; it would be the last place I’d go. And I ended up at both.”
Yet, he went there anyway, but quickly moved on to Kent State.
At 6-foot-3 and 192 pounds, Walker caught 58 passes with 921 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. The 11 scores were tied for seventh nationally and tied for first in the Mid-American Conference.
Walker had a 47-yard touchdown catch-and-run in the opener at Washington, and posted huge numbers in a 39-22 loss at No. 1 and eventual national champion Georgia. Walker had seven receptions for 106 yards and a score, which was a 56-yard catch-and-run making the score 12-10 Bulldogs in the second quarter. It was the only first-half touchdown allowed in September by Georgia.
It wasn’t long after Walker knew he needed to test his game at a higher level. The MAC is a quality conference, but facing ACC opponents every week was what he needed.
“I seen what I was doing out there on the field and thought I could (go) bigger,” he said.
UNC tight end John Copenhaver describes Walker as “super fast,” and UNC Coach Mack Brown said Walker gives them a dimension they lacked last fall.
“A thing we’ve got to get back to doing is throwing the ball deep,” Brown said. “We didn’t do as good a job getting the ball deep this (past) year, and he can do that.”
That will be one of Walker’s tasks at Carolina. Take the tops off of defenses and get into the end zone. That’s why UNC brought him in, and that’s why he’s in Chapel Hill.
