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One player who may not play is still the big story with Carolina football.
With less than three weeks before the Tar Heels kick it off against South Carolina, Mack Brown knows they have a veteran offense that needs to block better and not enough pieces to go with captain Cedric Gray and other returnees on defense.
Who knows who’ll emerge or even get injured closer to when the final two-deeps are posted. But Brown’s passion is the highest when discussing a kid who had his transfer waiver approved then reversed two days after he enrolled at UNC.
“We still haven’t heard any word on Tez Walker’s situation,” Brown said. “The NCAA’s had a tough three years there. I really like what I see with President Charlie Baker coming in from the governor’s position at Massachusetts. There’s already been some changes that are good, and one of the changes that needs to happen is the way we handle mental health.”
Brown staunchly defends Walker, more for what he is going through now before ever taking the field for Carolina. Walker practices with the team but always ends the last workout by asking the coach if he’s heard anything on his appeal.
“We have a committee that sits up there in Indianapolis that never talks to Tez, never talks to his (ailing) grandmother, never talks to our doctors, never talks to the mental health people on our campus,” says Brown, his voice cracking slightly. “They never talk to our chaplain, who Tez talks to every day and feels really guilty that he’s brought negative attention to our program, which he shouldn’t, but he does. And he’s really struggling. I’ve seen him crying after practice.”
Brown said UNC submitted the appeal two weeks ago without a peep since from the suits in Indy. “They wouldn’t take my call if I called up there,” he said.
But if they did pick up, what would the Hall of Fame coach tell them?
“If we’re worried about student athlete welfare, like we say we are, and if we’re worried about mental health, like we say we are, you’re taking away his opportunity to play. . . he’s on the watch list as one of the best receivers in the country. You’re taking away an opportunity for a guy to play in the NFL. So you’re taking away an opportunity for compensation and you’re taking away, most importantly, he needs to be back close to home,” Brown finished.
For us, it seems like an open and shut appeal. But, as we know, the NCAA has always worked in strange ways.
Featured image via Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports
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