Tight Ends Room A Three-Headed Weapon For Tar Heels

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CHAPEL HILL – Call it the John Lilly effect, or the Lilly effect with talent.

Whatever catchy moniker applies to North Carolina’s tight ends room, it should reflect the prospering performances the group has put forth this season.

UNC’s tight ends are weapons in the Tar Heels’ prolific offense, and their impact on how Carolina marches up and down the field is considerable. Kamari Morales, Bryson Nesbit, and John Copenhaver can all run a multitude of routes, catch balls on those routes, and are capable of turning their noses up field and adding significant yardage to their gains.

Morales’ long play of the year went for a 55-yard score at Georgia State. Copenhaver had a 47-yarder at Appalachian State, and the supremely athletic Nesbit hauled in a 35-yard catch-and-run in a lopsided win over Virginia Tech.

“We’re a productive group,’ Morales said. “We’ve got three guys that can go out there and produce, so I think that’s what it comes down to. I feel like sometimes we can be the best option in a particular situation, whether its personnel, whether who they’ve got or whatever the case may be.

“I think we’ve proven the fact that we can be active within the game plan. Ultimately, if we just keep going with that, we’ll get to where we want to be by the end of the season.”

At 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC, the Tar Heels’ mission right now is to win the ACC Coastal Division. Their game Saturday at Miami (2-2, 0-0) is crucial in that process. And having unique weapons at tight end enhances their quest. The Heels often employ 12 Personnel (two tight ends) a lot, and have used three on the field at the same time much more than last season.

That each has dramatically improved their blocking helps, too. They have become a complete unit, and the closer the Tar heels get to the end zone, their value magnifies even more.

Consider that UNC has scored 17 touchdowns in 19 appearances in the red zone. The two times it didn’t was when the Heels took a knee at the end of the Florida A&M game, and the other ended with a field goal. On that drive, quarterback Drake Maye was hurt on second down and didn’t complete the series.

So, in the 17 trips he has engineered and completed in the red zone, UNC has scored 17 touchdowns. Carolina Coach Mack Brown says the tight ends have played an enormous role in that success.

“I do think we’re doing much better in the red zone with touchdowns because of our tight ends,” he said. “That’s made a huge difference. We’re running the ball more down there, we’ve got more play-action to tight ends just like the opening fourth-down play to Kamari (Morales) on the first drive.”

They have been impactful everywhere on the field, too.

In 13 games last season, UNC’s tight ends were targeted 67 times, which is 5.2 per contest combining for 51 receptions for 561 yards and nine scores. So far through just five games this fall, the tight ends have been targeted 45 times combining for 33 receptions, 551 yards, six touchdowns, and 25 first downs.

Brown credits third-year tight end coach John Lilly for much of the success. Lilly has coached at Florida when the Seminoles were dominant, Georgia, Tennessee, and in the NFL. It’s in the Sunday league where he learned things implemented at UNC that have made a difference. Not just in his teaching, but the ideas he has hashed out with offensive coordinator Phil Longo.

The added sets with multiple tight ends, using all three as route runners on plays, and the effect that has on other elements of the offense are partly from Lilly. Longo, to his credit, has embraced those tweaks.

“I think that’s a credit to probably Phil listening more and John Lilly bringing in some new ideas,” Brown said.

And it’s a credit to the entire offense, staff and players, for the significant ascent in production and effect.

Carolina’s tight ends are uniquely productive, so much that the Lilly effect could really become a thing.