Mack Brown details how Tez Walker is handling uncertainty from NCAA
This offseason, Mack Brown and the North Carolina Tar Heels landed a key transfer out of the portal in Tez Walker. He was expected to play a major role in the team’s offense. That was until the NCAA denied his waiver to immediately play this season.
Now, Brown needs to find a way to replace Walker’s role in the offense while still trying to get him eligible to play this season. However, it’s been a difficult process for Walker to deal with.
“This is something we’re dealing with and we haven’t dealt with before,” Mack Brown said. “So, Tez was really down after practice yesterday and he didn’t practice with as much confidence as he has been because he’s not sure if he’s gonna play.”
Tez Walker needs a waiver to play this season because he transferred for a second time as an undergraduate student. However, for a couple of different reasons, Mack Brown and North Carolina expected him to get one. That’s because he never played at his first school due to the pandemic. Then, he transferred to North Carolina to be closer to his sick grandmother. According to Brown, the entire process has been bad for his mental health.
At the same time, there is a chance that Tez Walker still gets cleared to play. Because of this, it’s important that he stays focused.
“Lonnie Galloway and I met with him after practice and said, ‘Look, man. You’ve got to prepare to play because if they tell you Saturday at 3:30 you’re gonna play. You’ve gotta go play and you don’t want to be in a position where you’re not ready to play,” Brown said. “And you don’t want to be in a position where you may get hurt because you’re not out there in the right mindset.’ So, we’ve told him, you plan on playing. We’re gonna plan on playing you and what we’ve got to do is have two game plans.”
Mack Brown explained that this has also created a major challenge for North Carolina, with the Tar Heels needing to prepare for two possible outcomes
“We’ve got to have a gameplan with him and without him. That makes it difficult because you want your quarterback to be throwing to the guys he’s going to throw to in the game, and we’re not sure who he’s going to be throwing to,” Brown said.
“So, it’s a very difficult situation for us that it’s this late and we’re still not sure, but he can travel. He can’t dress if he’s not eligible. So, we’re planning on him going. I’m planning on him playing. That’s the only way we can look at it, and if not we’ll just have to make last second adjustments.”
North Carolina’s season starts on Saturday in Charlotte with a prime time game against South Carolina. As of the start of game week, North Carolina hadn’t heard anything new.
Mack Brown on how the offense would operate without Tez Walker
As of now, North Carolina needs to figure out what the offense looks like without Tez Walker. For Mack Brown, that means relying on the team’s depth.
“We’re not really sure. It’s just the other receivers that stepped up when Antoine Green got hurt last year or Josh Downs got hurt last year or neither one of them played in the bowl game. We’ve got some other really good guys,” Brown said.
“JJ Jones and Gavin Blackwell and Kobe Paysour and then the Andre Greenes have to step up, and some of those young ones. Christian Hamilton’s been here through the spring. Doc Chapman’s playing much better and then we’re using George Pettaway some at running back and at slot. So, he’s in a position where he can play both. So, we just had to adjust and instead of sitting around making excuses and oh poor me, you’ve got to go play.”