GoHeels Exclusive: Brewster Goes In Depth on the Tight Ends
May 20, 2019 | Football, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
Tim Brewster was just three months into his second stint on the North Carolina football coaching staff when Brandon Fritts suffered a significant knee injury for the second consecutive spring.
But that doesn't mean Brewster was any less heartbroken than anyone else in the tight end room.
"Here is a young guy who hurt his knee last spring, he's in a great frame of mind, he's in great physical shape and in one of our first practices this spring, he hurts his other knee," said Brewster, UNC's assistant head coach and tight ends coach. "Tremendous setback, if you want to call it that, for Brandon Fritts.
"But my whole personality, my whole thought process, is one man's misfortune is another man's opportunity. Next man up. We've got to take that mentality here."
The Tar Heel tight ends embraced a similar mindset with Fritts sidelined all last season. More will be expected of them in 2019, though, as they figure to assume larger roles in new offensive coordinator Phil Longo's Air Raid offense.
After his 2017 campaign ended prematurely because of an injury, Carl Tucker returned last season and served as Carolina's top tight-end option in the passing game. He caught 16 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns. According to Pro Football Focus (PFF), he averaged 8.1 yards after the catch per reception, with his longest going for 80 yards.
Tucker, a rising redshirt senior, demonstrated his playmaking ability again in the spring game, turning a modest gain into 77 yards. Afterward, he was asked about his penchant for big plays.
"Just getting the ball at the right time, I guess," he said, "and just being able to execute when they call my name. Just doing what I'm supposed to do with the ball in my hands."
Even when it wasn't, Tucker proved valuable. He didn't allow a quarterback pressure on 30 pass-blocking snaps, according to PFF. That helped earn him a spot on the website's All-ACC first team. But Brewster still sees room for growth.
"Carl Tucker understands what I expect out of the tight end," Brewster said. "I've coached Hall of Fame tight ends. I've coached NFL tight ends, a ton of them. I want elite players playing the position for us. So it's a tremendous challenge for Carl Tucker to embrace that thought and be elite. I'm challenging you to be elite.
"I think he's athletic. I think he's got decent ball skills. He's got to get better as a pass-catcher. He's got to get himself in better physical shape. That's the challenge in this offense; conditioning-wise, at the pace we're going to play, he's got to get in better physical condition."
Jake Bargas didn't make as much of an impact as Tucker in the passing game last season, hauling in eight passes for 80 yards and a touchdown. But he regularly drew praise for his blocking.
Bargas, a rising redshirt senior, was also a key contributor on special teams. And he likely will be again this fall. The 172 snaps he played on special teams last season were the second most on the team and are the most among returning players, according to PFF.
"Love Jake Bargas, love his mindset," said Brewster of Bargas, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound native of Boca Raton, Fla. "He's a hard-nosed, tough guy. He doesn't necessarily have the length I look for at the position, but he's got the toughness I look for at the position. He is a hard-nosed, physically tough guy who everybody in the room respects.
"That's the great thing about my room is I've got a bunch of older guys. I've got a bunch of guys who have been in the battle, who have gone to war and who players on this team respect."
Rising redshirt juniors Garrett Walston and Noah Turner round out UNC's returning tight ends. Walston, who is listed a 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, appeared in seven games (one start) last season. He caught one pass for 19 yards.
"He's an athletic guy," Brewster said. "He's a longer guy. He's the body type I've been around and am accustomed to. I like his pass-receiving skills. He's got to get with Brian Hess in the weight room. He has got to absolutely annihilate the weights this spring, this summer. He's got to get tougher."
Turner appeared in all 11 games last season, primarily on special teams.
"We've got to see what type of assets he brings to the passing game," Brewster said. "He's going to bring us some good thump in the run game."
Kamari Morales, the lone underclassman in the tight end room, will enroll in June. A three-star prospect, he's ranked as the No. 46 tight end in the Class of 2019, according to 247Sports.com. Across three seasons at Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, Fla., he caught 115 passes for 1,227 yards and 14 touchdowns
"He's really competitive," said Mack Brown in December. "He loves football. He's a little undersized, but can be a slot. He's got great speed for a tight end and he'll be a mismatch on linebackers and safeties. … With his athletic ability, he gives us some things in our offense that we'll be able to utilize that some other people don't have."
Fritts certainly does. He proved that during his first three seasons in Chapel Hill, tallying 47 catches for 439 yards and nine touchdowns. But with him likely out for part of the 2019 campaign, the Tar Heel tight ends know what they'll have to do.
"It sucks to see him off," Tucker said. "But all we can do is move forward and pray for him and hope for the best. I've been here before, he's been in that situation before, I've had to step up and do what I'm supposed to do. Everybody knows they've got to step up and do what they're supposed to do. So it's nothing new to us."
