CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina football coach Mack Brown doesn’t expect receiver Josh Downs to be on the mend for long, after the promising target had foot surgery last week.
“It was very minor and I think he’ll be running next week or so,” Brown said Tuesday.
Downs, the speedy rising sophomore and perhaps top talent among the Tar Heels’ group of receivers for next season, didn’t miss any of the team’s recently completed session of 15 spring practices, a reference point Brown used while reiterating “this one was minor” in regard to Downs’s surgery.
“The doctors and trainers have assured me everybody that was hurt for spring,” Brown said, “or that had a procedure, will be ready to go at the end of May or the first of June when we start working out (again). And they should be 100-percent ready for fall.”
Downs seems all but certain to take over the slot receiver role in North Carolina’s offense with the departure of Dazz Newsome, one of the Tar Heels’ four proven playmakers taken in the NFL Draft. And Downs figures to factor on special teams, too, as a kick returner alongside Ja’Qurious Conley and Tennessee transfer Ty Chandler.
Brown proclaimed Downs to be the best performer of North Carolina’s receiving corps during the spring. He became part of the longest play produced in the team’s spring game April 24, zipping past defensive back Cam’Ron Kelly in coverage and hauling in a 48-yard deep ball from quarterback Sam Howell.
That field-stretching connection served as both a potential preview for next season, with the strong-armed Howell already being billed as a Heisman Trophy candidate, and a reminder of how last season ended in the Orange Bowl.
Downs, then a true freshman, delivered season highs of four catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns in North Carolina’s bowl loss to Texas A&M. Both of his scores came during the second half and both vaulted the Tar Heels into the lead, the second touchdown a 75-yard bomb from Howell, who scrambled out of the pocket and motioned for Downs to turn his deep route toward the sideline, as he separated from Texas A&M defenders Leon O’Neal Jr. and Buddy Johnson.
“I think that shows something we can look forward to next season,” veteran North Carolina linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel said that night in Miami Gardens, Fla., after the bowl game.
MORE: ‘This is like my destiny’: UNC’s Javonte Williams rises to top NFL Draft running back prospect
Brown joked on Tuesday that Tar Heels assistant coach Dré Bly “released” the news about Downs having surgery. Bly, Downs’s uncle, posted his hopes for a quick recovery on social media, in a tweet that since has been deleted.
“He has played and dominated with pain in his big toe since high school!!!” Bly wrote last week on Twitter. “Imagine seeing him move now and breaking ankles pain free!!!”
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: Speedy potential of UNC receiver Josh Downs isn’t expected to be slowed by foot surgery
