7/22/2023 football Edit

Tight End Might Be the Group That Least Concerns UNC's Staff

As strong as North Carolina is at quarterback with Drake Maye, its best position group just may be tight end. (Jacob Turner/THI)

Trey Scott

Tar Heel Illustrated

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CHAPEL HILL, NC – Tight end isn’t a position of great concern to North Carolina’s coaching staff.

For the second consecutive season, it might be the least of UNC Coach Mack Brown’s worries. It boasts impressive depth, experience, talent, and features a diverse mix of playing styles with three standouts as part of the rotation.

Bryson Nesbit, John Copenhaver, and Kamari Morales each played a great deal last season, usually affecting games each week in a positive manner. They combined for 80 catches, 1,091 yards, and eight touchdowns - the most from a tight end group since UNC's 2013 season when eventual NFL tight end Eric Ebron was on the team.

Following spring practice this past April, UNC quarterback Drake Maye acknowledged the strength of the tight end group.

"Our tight ends make plays," he said.

Nesbit, a freakishly athletic tight end with a 6-foot-6, 240-pound frame, hails from South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, NC. As a high school senior, Nesbit was a 4-star recruit. As a sophomore last fall, he was named Honorable Mention All-ACC and ranked third on the team in receptions (35) and yards receiving (507).

Senior tight end Kamari Morales has 56 career catches with 10 touchdwns for the Tar Heels. (Brandon Peay/THI)

The one interesting factor to keep an eye on with Nesbit this fall is his only fifth full season of playing contact football. Nesbit did not start playing football until the summer of his sophomore year in high school. With his frame and natural gifts, which include him lining up as a slot receiver at times last season, Nesbit’s potential is through the roof. Don’t be surprised if Nesbit has even more of a breakout season than a year ago.

Copenhaver, who is 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, attended Roswell High School in Roswell, GA, where he was ranked as a 3-star recruit. During his 2022 sophomore season at UNC, Copenhaver appeared in 13 games, starting one, and finished the season with 222 yards receiving and 15 catches.

Kamari Morales, a powerful, hard-nosed, and athletic graduate, stands at 6-foot-2 and weighs 245 pounds. He played for Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, FL, where he was a 3-star recruit. In his 2022 senior season, Morales started all 14 games at tight end, making 29 catches for 358 yards with four touchdown receptions. He opted to use his Covid year and return to UNC for another season.

The Tar Heels hired Freddie Kitchens before spring practice as their tight end coach and run game coordinator. Kitchens brings extensive experience from both college and NFL levels, having served as a running backs coach, tight ends coach, quarterbacks coach, associate head coach, offensive coordinator, plus he was head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2019. Kitchens' arrival has already made an impact on the team, with Copenhaver praising his intensity and focus on physicality.

John Copenhaver was UNC's third tight end but still had a productive season last fall. (Kevin Roy/THI)

"As a tight end, I think we’re just full throttle, we’re not letting up,” he said. “Coach Kitchens has been a huge help with that. He’s pushing us every single day to be better and better and meet that standard."

In addition to their impressive college performances so far, Nesbit, Copenhaver, and Morales will have the opportunity to play alongside the same Heisman candidate quarterback next season, further enhancing their potential impact on the field.

UNC also welcomed a new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, who has a long history with Kitchens. Lindsey spoke highly of the tight end group.

"I think we’re three deep at tight end, which we consider those guys part of our receiving corps as well," he said.

True freshman Julien Randolph, a summer enrollee, will serve in an apprentice role behind the three mainstays, groomed to embrace a larger role in 2024.

The tight end room isn’t keep Brown, Kitchens, or Lindsey up at night, as it once again is one of the more solid rooms on the roster.

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