Here’s how UNC tight end Garrett Walston hopes to expand his role in passing game
Garrett Walston’s transformation into the rubber band man just might rejuvenate his NFL draft hopes and the tight end’s role in the Tar Heels’ passing game.
Walston wanted to become a better blocker and route runner, and to do that he needed to increase his flexibility and agility. He took a very specific request into the office of strength and conditioning coach Brian Hess after spring practices to ask for a plan.
Not just any plan, mind you. He wanted something that would incorporate a lot of the elements that would make him a complete player, like flexibility to help him get lower for run blocking.
“I need a full plan on ankle mobility, hip mobility, running mobility, and I don’t want it to be some one-page thing, I want it to be in depth,” Walston told Hess. “I want it to take like 30 minutes to do, so they created me a personalized plan. And I went out to Wal-Mart and bought about every stretching ban and thick yoga mats so my knees could be supported.”
The 6-foot-4, 245-pound Wilmington native has stuck to the plan ever since. He breaks out those resistance bands and yoga mat and goes through his routine, no matter how tired he is, before going to sleep at night. He also does it before and after lifting weights.
UNC offensive coordinator Phil Longo has already noticed the difference from the spring drills to the start of fall camp. Longo said Walston has “the best hands on the team.”
“He’s done such a tremendous job of developing his body physically,” Longo said. “Hess and those guys have a plan for him. He’s attacked the plan. He’s much more of a physical specimen than he was before. So he I think he’s a lot more than competent in the box now that makes him the true dual-threat tight end that we all would hope to recruit every year.”
It was easy to forget Walston was an eligible target the first half of last season. Although he caught a touchdown pass in the 2020 opener against Syracuse — he had just one touchdown in his first three seasons — Walston had just seven more receptions through the first seven games.
Between the explosiveness Carolina possessed in receivers Daz Newsome and Dyami Brown and the power of running backs Javonte Williams and Michael Carter, the targets did not come frequently.
“It’s hard to take it out of Javonte’s hands or Michael Carter’s hands or Dyami or Daz,” UNC coach Mack Brown said. “So then you have to look at where does Garrett fit in that group?”
Brown said he felt good with Walston’s progress going into the season, and said his infrequent pass catching last season was because it took some time for tight end coach John Lilly and Longo to “get on the same page.” Lilly joined the staff after coaching with the Cleveland Browns in 2019. Brown believes now that Lilly has had a full year to get acclimated, it could also help the tight end position play a bigger part in the offense.
Brown’s vision started to take place last year, as Walston closed out the season with 11 catches for 122 yards and a touchdown in the last five games. There’s good reason to believe this season will start for Walston how last year ended.
There’s still only one ball, but now Walston is among the most experienced targets for quarterback Sam Howell. As a new crop of receivers attempt to fill the void left by Dyami Brown and Newsome, only receiver Beau Corrales, who also opted to return for a second senior season, has caught more career passes than Walston.
“Early on, we’re going to expect more production at the tight end position,” Longo said. “Because one, we need it. And two, I think Garrett Walston and Kamari Morales particularly have put themselves in a position where they have established themselves as bigger weapons athletically and systematically that they have been in the past. We’re excited about the season that the two of them will have.”
Walston’s potential to be included more was part of his reasoning to return to UNC as a super senior. The NCAA granted waivers to all fall sports athletes prior to last football season not knowing the impact COVID-19 would have on playing games. Under normal circumstances, Walston’s eligibility would have been exhausted and his collegiate career finished, short of his NFL dream.
“I was most likely was not going to get drafted last year,” Walston said. “Actually, I know for a fact I wasn’t.”
He’s hoping this season will be different, and that a chance to showcase his skills more in the offense will pique the interest of an NFL team or two. Longo believes Walston has the athleticism to do it, and it actually runs in the family. Walston’s brother, Blake, is a left-handed pitcher who was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks 26th overall in the 2019 MLB draft.
“The running thing in my household is, I can’t let my little brother be the only one in my family that gets drafted,” Walston said. “I don’t want to get teased about that more than I already do.”
This story was originally published August 8, 2021 at 1:59 PM with the headline "Here’s how UNC tight end Garrett Walston hopes to expand his role in passing game."