CHAPEL HILL – Tez is back, and he’s in the game plan this week for North Carolina.
Tez Walker that is, who until last Saturday, was the most popular UNC football player to have never played a down for the Tar Heels. He was in for 54 snaps in the Tar Heels’ 40-7 romp over Syracuse. But Walker wasn’t really part of the plan.
He found out Thursday afternoon that the NCAA had finally cleared him for immediate eligibility after a long, highly publicized battle between UNC and the governing body over athletics. So, other than getting a crash course with wide receivers coach Lonnie Galloway some on Thursday and then Friday, Walker was about as raw as can be against the Orange.
“Poor Lonnie and I said, ‘Now what do we do with him?’ He hadn’t practiced for three weeks,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said Monday, relaying his words with Galloway after getting the news Walker could play.
He didn’t enter the game until UNC’s 18th offensive play, which came with 7:18 remaining in the first quarter. Carolina quarterback Drake Maye scrambled for a three-yard gain. Five plays later, Maye hit Walker for a six-yard gain, much to the delight of the 50,500 fans in attendance.
In all, Walker caught six passes for 43 yards. And it was more than enough given the circumstances.
“He played a lot,” Brown said. “He messed a few things up because he wasn’t practicing, but this week we’ll get him in the rotation.”
Waker is firmly in the rotation now, as the No. 12 Tar Heels prepare to host No. 25 Miami on Saturday night. The 7:30 PM kickoff will air on ABC, so the nation will get a healthy look at what people inside the program say is by far the team’s best receiving weapon.
Last season at Kent State, the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder caught 58 passes for 921 yards and 11 touchdowns, plus he ran the ball for a score. Now, he and Georgia Tech transfer Nate McCollum, as well as UNC’s other talented holdovers, can complement one another, giving Carolina one of the top receiving corps in the ACC.
Walker tops them off. He is the biggest difference maker. In fact, it’s something understood within the Kenan Football Center as the “Tez Effect.”
At no time was that more obvious than on a 48-yard catch McCollum made to the Syracuse 1-yard-line. Walker was also open on the play, but Maye hit McCollum because he said it was the slightly easier throw.
McCollum, Maye, and Brown each said that play was the result of the Tez effect, as it freed McCollum in a manner he hadn’t been until Walker entered the lineup.
“He’s a very explosive kid,” Galloway said. “So that play Nate caught, Tez was actually open, so I thought the ball was going to go there… He brings an element from people that have watched him play from when he was at Kent State; his speed, explosiveness. You have to account for him.”
UNC offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey says having Walker will benefit every aspect of the offense. The passing game, of course. But also the ground attack, which has been inconsistent so far, though the Tar Heels ran for 202 yards against the Orange.
“Tez is a little bit of a difference maker in a lot of ways,” Lindsey said. “Hopefully, that opens a lot of other things up, including being able to run the ball. They can’t really overload you sometimes when you have good players outside. If they do, you have to make them pay… So, I think it’s huge.”
To think a 4-0 team that had been handling Power 5 opponents with ease before Walker arrived now has his services. A 33-point win over a one-loss team was act one. But what’s to come now?
“It’s very exciting when you get a player like Tez’s caliber to add to the pieces that we already have,” Galloway said.
After a sampler last weekend, the Tez Walker era truly launches this weekend, and it has everyone in the program all abuzz.
