2015 Football Preview: Pass Catchers

Carolina enters the 2015 season with high hopes for its offense which returns all of its major players for quarterback Marquise Williams' senior season. Williams threw for just over 3000 yards last year even though he had to split time with Mitch Trubisky for an unfortunate number of games. To help Marquise succeed in his senior season Carolina returns everyone who had at least 100 receiving yards except for Jack Tabb and T.J. Thorpe. This post will look at the wide receivers and tight ends who will power the brunt of Carolina's offense this year.

The Wide Receivers:

Carolina returns its top four wideouts from last year (even though one of them, Bug Howard will probably play tight end this year). Carolina will also look for development from new contributors they found last year in Mack Hollins and Austin Proehl. Carolina also has five freshman wideouts who may find ways to contribute. One of these new players, Juval Mollette, had a grade of 80 from ESPN and was the #47 Wideout in the country, so Carolina fans can expect big things from him in the future even if he does not produce much in his first year.

The most important players returning for Carolina other than Williams, are the three key wide receivers from last year: Quinshad Davis, Ryan Switzer and Mack Hollins. These three combined for 1840 yards as well as 18 touchdowns last season. If these three stay healthy then Carolina might have one of the best offenses in the ACC if not the country. Switzer will look to make most of his year over year improvement by returning to freshman year return man form, as he was still a good wide receiver last season. Hollins should be expected to develop in his second year of heavy use. Williams did lock in on Switzer and Hollins last year at the expense of Davis last year. This was especially true in the middle of the season, if Williams can avoid that this season, then Carolina's offense might hum along just as Fedora wants.

The Tight Ends:

The tight end position is much more up in the air for the Heels as Jack Tabb graduated last year. Carolina brought in two tight end recruits this past year. The Heels got Carl Tucker the #4 Tight End in the country (an ESPN 300 recruit) and Jake Bargas the #13 Tight End recruit. The Heels also have Brandon Fritts and Caleb Samuel coming in off their redshirt years as potential contributors to the Heels. Fritts was a pretty highly touted recruit out of high school so he may be able to come in and contribute this season. The other possibly starter at Tight End is Bug Howard, who was Carolina's fourth leading player in receiving yards last season has been a wide receiver throughout his Carolina career. However at 6'5", Howard has the size to play Tight End and could give Carolina a new way to put its top receiving targets on the field at once.

The pass catchers were the bright spots for Carolina last year and with almost everyone back, Carolina's passing offense is poised to be one of the top units in the ACC this year.