Transfer receiver Walker makes a big impact for Tar Heels with 3 touchdown receptions

With just more than eight minutes remaining in the third quarter, UNC’s Tez Walker caught a 33-yard touchdown reception, dropped the ball and trotted just past the corner of the end zone.

Facing a crowd of traveling Miami fans, he threw his hands up in the shape of the “U” and proceeded to turn that same U upside down.

It was an apt celebration. The junior wide receiver had the Hurricanes’ secondary completely discombobulated for much of Saturday night. The preseason All-ACC selectee ran rampant — recording 132 yards on six catches and three touchdown receptions in the Tar Heels’ 41-31 victory. Walker’s two touchdowns in the third quarter bolstered a 21-point swing in the Tar Heels’ favor — the most points Miami has allowed in a single quarter since its 45-21 loss to Duke last season.

In a news conference earlier this week, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal was asked how he was preparing his team for a player of Walker’s ability with one measly week of gameday film.

His response?

“To the best of your ability,” Cristobal said. “Any time there’s a transfer coming into a team, if you don’t have film on them, you see what they did well and try to configure, well, how does that fit into the system? Will they add this particular schematic tweak to the system being that the player is really good at it? So, you gotta do a little bit of both, but you also keep in mind they have a lot of weapons and they’ve used them really well. They’ve practically scored at will.”

The Tar Heels, with Walker fully integrated in their offense, continued to score at will against the Hurricanes on Saturday. It started with apparent miscommunication of Miami’s secondary, as Walker easily slipped between junior safety Kamren Kinchens and fifth-year cornerback Te’Cory Couch for an 18-yard touchdown pass.

In Walker’s second touchdown, a reception of a 56-yard deep ball from UNC sophomore quarterback Drake Maye, the wideout put his speed on display — darting straight down the field and past a leaping Jaden Davis.

“I mean, Jaden’s trying to make a play there, and credit to both Jaden and to Walker,” Cristobal said. “Drake Maye’s a great quarterback, and he put that ball exactly where it needed to be put and as hard as we tried to cover that one that one got away from us. But it wasn’t a lack of effort. That was really, two guys really competing hard and trying to make a play and they made it.”

The third touchdown reception, a 33-yarder in which Walker snaked diagonally (and virtually unscathed) across the field for a catch-and-run, allowed the Tar Heels take advantage of an untimely Tyler Van Dyke interception picked off by UNC’s Cedric Gray.

When asked what the scout on Walker was, Couch said that, aside from expecting a “fast, long receiver” there “wasn’t too much [tape] on him.”

Couch chalked most of the secondary’s issues in coverage (the Hurricanes gave up eight explosive plays of 15 or more yards through the air) to issues with tempo.

“It was hard to get in line,” Couch said. “[There were] communication issues with tempo as well. I don’t think their receivers were — I wouldn’t say they’re not good — but I just think they didn’t get us that much of a problem except for nine [Walker].”

If you ask Cristobal, however, Walker’s speed and Miami’s tendency to bite early, cost the Hurricanes in many cases.

Regardless of the reason, whether it was simply Walker’s skill or a lack of preparation, Miami will certainly enter next week with plenty of film to review and mull over.

“When you have opportunities that you allow slip away, you got to take it as a whole,” Cristobal said. “You got to take it as coaches, you got to take it as players. We got to teach it better, you got to execute it better. You just take it.”

This story was originally published October 15, 2023 at 2:48 AM.