‘He became Josh Downs for us.’ North Carolina’s Nate McCollum comes up big in win

North Carolina’s Drake Maye began looking for Nate McCollum early Saturday at Kenan Stadium, found him and rarely looked away from him.

A year ago, when in doubt, Maye would throw the ball to Josh Downs, the quarterback’s go-to guy. Downs delivered, time and again.

With Downs in the NFL this year, UNC coach Mack Brown envisioned lining up two transfers, McCollum and Tez Walker, at wideouts and letting Maye sit in the pocket and have his pick.

Walker is ineligible. McCollum was slowed in preseason, didn’t play in the opener against South Carolina and only had a handful of plays against Appalachian State.

And then Saturday happened.

McCollum was targeted 21 times and caught 15 Maye passes as the No. 20 Tar Heels beat Minnesota 31-13. He finished with 165 yards in receptions, and his 46-yard scoring catch in the first quarter was equal parts pass-catching skill and determination and fight.

As Brown put it, “He became Josh Downs for us today.”

McCollum could only grin when told about Brown’s comment.

“I like people saying that but I think I’m my own player,” McCollum said after the game. “J.D., that’s my boy. I grew up with him. He’s a heckuva player.”

Breakout game for transfer WR

Downs and McCollum are both from the Atlanta area. Both are 5-8, or so. Both have plenty of speed and the ability to stretch the field.

McCollum, a four-star high school recruit, played three seasons at Georgia Tech before transferring to UNC. Coming in from Kent State was Walker, a Charlotte native who could be a game-breaker and was selected to the preseason All-ACC team for 2023 before playing a down.

Walker has become a cause celebre, especially at Kenan Stadium. His eligibility case and the NCAA’s unwillingness to give him a chance to play this season had the UNC players wearing Tez Walker T-shirts before the game on the team walk into the stadium and had Tar Heel fans chanting “Free Tez Walker” late in the game.

“That was pretty cool, a special moment,” Maye said.

McCollum was told after the game that he was targeted five times on UNC’s first possession.

“For real?” he said.

For real. Maye hit him for 3 yards on the first play of the game, then 18 yards on the second. On third-and-12 from the Minnesota 46, Maye was flushed out of the pocket, rolled right and found McCollum breaking open deep — McCollum coming down with the ball in the end zone.

“I was just having fun,” McCollum said. “Just glad to be back. I was ready to go.”

So was Maye, who had some pedestrian passing numbers the first two games but went 29-of-40 for 414 yards Saturday, with the scoring pass to McCollum and later to tight end Bryson Nesbit. Maye had two picks, but they didn’t slow him down long.

“What a great performance by him, time and time and time again,” Brown said.

An instant connection

McCollum said he first met Maye during his official visit to the UNC campus after entering the transfer portal.

“I realized the type of person he was. Super humble,” McCollum said. “He was like, ‘I want you here.’ After that, it was time to go.”

The Tar Heels may not have targeted McCollum so much had the Golden Gophers not loaded up the front on defense. Brown said Minnesota, mindful of the Heels’ strong running game in the first two games, brought a safety up to help and fill gaps.

Omarion Hampton, after his 234-yard rushing outbreak against App State, was targeted by the Minnesota defense. Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said during the week that the Gophers could not afford to have UNC control the ball and eat up the clock with its running game.

So Maye passed. A lot. McCollum caught a lot of balls.

“It just kind of happened that way,” Maye said. “I was just trying to throw to the open guy, and he got open a lot tonight. That’s how it goes.. He’s a helluva player. He’s going to get open.”

Photos: North Carolina Tar Heels top the Minnesota Golden Gophers

The Tar Heels did run well enough to finish out the game late. They ended up with seven more minutes of possession time and had 519 yards in total offense, converting 12 of 17 third-down plays plus a fourth-down conversion.

Brown liked the play of his defense Saturday, which came up with two interceptions. After Maye’s first pick, giving Minnesota the ball at UNC 16, the defense limited the damage to a field goal.

The Heels (3-0) head into ACC play next week with a road game at Pittsburgh. While Walker is out and a few offensive linemen are banged up a bit, most of the boxes have been checked in the first three games.

“We’ve played three really good teams out of conference,” Brown said. “We know exactly what we’ve got to fix before we go to Pittsburgh. A lot of people don’t know who they are. We know who we are.”