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CHAPEL HILL – Uncertainty abounds on North Carolina’s offense, as the Tar Heels are closing in on the start of the 2022 football season.

No matter who takes snaps at quarterback for UNC this season, he will begin the season with limited experience and tasked with replacing record-setter Sam Howell. The offensive line has question marks with players moving around, newcomers pushing for major roles, and returning reserves still trying to get their traction.

The running back room is very young, and wide receiver is actually younger and terribly thin, especially now that senior Antoine Green is out for a while.

Tight end, however, is a different story.

“I think where we feel the most comfortable, and we have depth there and we kind of understand our role, is the tight end room,” UNC Coach Mack Brown recently said, when addressing the many unknowns about Carolina’s offense.

In actuality, only one tight end has logged a lot of time, and that’s senior Kamari Morales, who led players at that position with 412 snaps last fall, and has been in for 619 offensive plays in his career. After that, athletic sophomore Bryson Nesbit played 89 offensive snaps, and sophomore John Copenhaver was in for just 47 snaps, though he had at least one play at tight end in 10 of UNC’s 13 contests.

The thing is, Nesbit is one of the most talented players on the team, and is projected to bust out this season by many observers. Carolina’s staff hasn’t backed away from expressing considerable confidence in him.

At 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds, Nesbit has lined up at receiver, including a lot at slot, in the spring and through fall camp. Theoretically, he could play wide receiver and be done with it. But he also possesses all of the necessary tools to excel in all aspects at tight end.

Nesbit gives the tight end group tremendous flexibility, so much that multiple tight ends on the field often should not surprise anyone.

“We’re definitely going to use a lot more tight ends,” Nesbit said. “Me, Kamari (Morales) and John (Copenhaver), we’ve all had a lot of reps in slot, and we’ve had some outside and tight end. But for me, mostly I’ve been throughout the three spots.

“Sometimes, I’m in there with Kamari, sometimes I’m in there with John, sometimes all three of us are in there at the same time. We’ve been doing good opening the offense back up to the tight ends.”

Morales, who is 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, has surprising quickness, and has shown an ability to do three things that will help Carolina’s passing game: He can catch passes in a variety of routes; he can run a variety of routes; and he can turn his nose up field and scoot.

He scored five touchdowns last season among the 24 passes he caught for 220 yards. In fact, for Morales’ career, he has six touchdowns among his 27 receptions, meaning 22.2 percent of the time, the Buck Lake, FL, native scores a touchdown when he gets the ball in his hands.

Morales isn’t worried about that, though. It’s about the group, the offense, and the team for him. But he also recognizes the importance of the tight end room, and that they must produce for the Tar Heels to reach their goals.

“We know we’re a big focal point on the offense,” Morales said. “We help make the offense go, whether it’s in the passing game or the running game.

“I think we saw that a little bit last year, and I think we have a lot of guys that can play in the room, so that’s definitely going to help us moving forward.”

And that leads to Copenhaver, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound native of Roswell, GA. He played 47 snaps last season, catching two passes for nine yards, with one of the receptions going for a touchdown. Big and athletic, Copenhaver has worked each element of his craft to where his name comes up every once in a while when teammates discuss players that have played well in camp.

“I’ve been really working on my blocking a lot,” Copenhaver said. “I’ve been trying to work with my technique a lot; (tight ends) Coach (John) Lilly does a really good job with that, technique, hand placement, foot placement – working on the really small details.

“And working after practice, catching balls from quarterbacks, one-on-ones, skelly. So, I think blocking has been improving a lot, and then passing as well.”

Three players with unique talents that mesh well enough together that may end up on the field at the same time much more than offensive coordinator Phil Longo has utilized the position over the last three years comprise the tight end room.

That’s the one room about which UNC’s staff isn’t too worried.