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Other Tar Heels had a great NFL weekend, too.
Drake Maye was far from alone among his Carolina brethren over the second week of the NFL season.
Mack Hollins, who played for UNC’s last winning team before Mack Brown returned, has surfaced in New England as a good blocker and sneaky receiver. He scored the Patriots’ first touchdown against Miami on a great route and touch pass from Maye.
Besides his two scoring passes, Maye completed 19 of 23 attempts for 230 yards with no interceptions and wound up with a quarterback rating of 137 while outdueling the Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa in a game that featured back-to-back touchdowns on long kick returns.
Touchdown Tez Walker, who had a cup of coffee in Chapel Hill, was targeted twice by Lamar Jackson and caught both passes for touchdowns as the Ravens clobbered the bad Cleveland Browns.
Dyami Brown caught five passes from Trevor Lawrence, one for a touchdown, in the Jaguars’ loss to the Bengals, whose star quarterback Joe Burrow severely injured his toe early in the 31-27 win over Jacksonville and is out for three months. Brown caught 16 passes in his last of four seasons in Washington before moving on.
Dyami’s Tar Heel teammate Javonte Williams led the Cowboys in rushing with 97 yards on 18 carries in their incredible overtime win against the Giants. Javonte also had six receptions for an additional 33 yards as the Boys tied the game on a 64-yard field goal and won it in overtime on Brandon Aubrey’s fourth field goal of the game.
On Monday Night Football, rookie Omarion Hampton had a second effective game, despite a late fumble, as the Chargers beat the Raiders 20-9 in Las Vegas. The Big O had eight carries for 24 yards. None were bigger than his two rushes late in the first half to get his team away from its own goal line, the last one where he broke three tackles and kept his balance for an 8-yard first down.
Despite Mack Brown’s up-and-down career at UNC, he recruited and sent more players to the NFL than any of his head coaching predecessors, including eight of the total 28 Tar Heel first rounders. In his two tenures, Brown helped build the brand that Bill Belichick’s presence could take to another level.
As of yesterday, there were 15 Tar Heels on active NFL rosters, including Josh Downs with the Colts, Ty Chandler with the Vikings, Cole Holcomb with the Steelers, Charlie Heck with Tampa Bay, Mike Hughes with the Falcons, Asim Richards with Dallas, M.J. Stewart with Houston, Cedrick Gray with the Titans, and Josh Ezeudu with the Giants.
Overall, the Tar Heels have had about 250 players picked in the NFL draft since it started in 1936, although that isn’t close to schools with the ten most – from Notre Dame’s 525 to Georgia’s 371.
Featured image via Associated Press/Jeff Dean
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
