CHAPEL HILL — Garrett Walston’s decision to stay on for an extra season with the North Carolina football team includes personal motivation about becoming a professional.
Or is it professional motivation that’s personal?
The incentive proves accurate either way it’s framed for the veteran tight end, whose choice to use the COVID-19 exemption allowed by the NCAA, and remain a member of the Tar Heels for a sixth college season, gives him another opportunity at building a potential NFL résumé.
Which if achieved would make him the latest pro athlete in his family. Blake Walston, his younger brother, is a pitching prospect in the Arizona Diamondbacks farm system after being picked in the first round of the 2019 MLB Draft.
“I’ve always dreamed of being drafted,” Garrett Walston said, referring to his NFL ambition. “The running thing in my household is I can’t let my little brother be the only one in the family that gets drafted, because then I’ll have to hear about that more than I already do. But it’s always been a goal of mine.”
That’s just one of the aspirations for Walston as 10th-ranked North Carolina works toward its season opener on Sept. 3 at Virginia Tech.
He’s the Tar Heels’ leading returning receiver in terms of production, and he’s joined by linebackers Tomon Fox and Tyrone Hopper, receiver Beau Corrales, and kicker Grayson Atkins as “super seniors” on the team. They’re seniors from last season who elected to take the NCAA option that provides an additional year of eligibility, after the 2020 season played out amid the uncertainty of the pandemic.
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Walston said he began weighing whether to return in late December, during conversations with his father, North Carolina coach Mack Brown and tight ends coach John Lilly, before the Tar Heels lost to Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2. Walston said “there were just too many positives here” as he looked ahead to the potential North Carolina possesses entering this season.
“First and foremost, I think this team can be one of the more special teams in Carolina history,” he said. “We’re taking great strides year in and year out under Coach Brown. The defense is looking so much better than last year. We’ve got a ton of depth. It’s just something I couldn’t miss out on.
“And another thing was, I wanted to improve on my entire game. I wanted to get more production in the pass game and show what I can do for the next level, because I’ve been behind a bunch of NFL-caliber guys since I’ve been here.”
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Walston, out of New Hanover High School in Wilmington, checked in fifth on the team with 19 catches for 255 yards and two touchdowns last season. He has made 20 career starts with the Tar Heels.
Star quarterback Sam Howell threw to receivers Dyami Brown (55 catches for 1,099 yards) and Dazz Newsome (54 catches for 684 yards), and running backs Javonte Williams (25 catches for 305 yards) and Michael Carter (25 catches for 267 yards) more often than he hit Walston last season, as North Carolina featured a prolific attack that ranked fourth nationally in total offense.
All that firepower — in the form of Dyami Brown, Newsome, Williams and Carter — has departed Chapel Hill for the NFL, meaning Walston’s role as a trusted target for Howell figures to expand this season.
“I think early on we’re going to expect more production out of the tight end position,” Tar Heels offensive coordinator Phil Longo said, “because we need it. And I think Garrett Walston and (backup) Kamari Morales have put themselves in a position where they have established themselves as bigger weapons athletically and systematically than they have been in the past.”
Longo has praised Walston’s reliability during preseason practices this month, saying the tight end owns “the best hands on the team” and runs excellent routes. Longo has called Walston “much more of a physical specimen than he was before,” after offseason development under the direction of strength and conditioning coach Brian Hess.
The 6-foot-4, 245-pound Walston said he has sought to gain better flexibility, in an effort to help his blocking responsibilities and increase his speed. So he approached Hess’s staff and asked for a detailed course of action. He has since performed a nightly stretching routine that he also incorporates around weightlifting sessions.
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“I went to them and I was like, ‘Listen, I need a full plan on ankle mobility, hip mobility, groin mobility,’ ” Walston said, “ ‘and I don’t want it to be some one-page thing. I want it to be in-depth and I want it to take like 30 minutes to do.’
“They created me a personalized plan and I went out to Walmart and bought about every stretching band, and a thick yoga mat so that my knees could be supported. And every night before I go to bed, I roll out that yoga mat and I do that.”
Walston enrolled in college at North Carolina in January 2016, before taking a redshirt season that fall as a true freshman. He has been on board for the team’s transition from former coach Larry Fedora to Mack Brown, and the turnaround that has elevated the Tar Heels from 3-9 in 2017 and 2-9 in 2018 at the end of Fedora’s tenure, to 7-6 in 2019 and 8-4 last season under Brown.
“It’s been great so far,” Walston said of his decision to play an extra season. “I’m glad I did.”
Adam Smith is a sports reporter for the Burlington Times-News and USA TODAY Network. You can reach him by email at asmith@thetimesnews.com or @adam_smithTN on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Times-News: UNC ‘super senior’ Garrett Walston sees NFL path, special season ahead for sixth year
