Jordan Shipp has a simple answer for why Jelani Thurman keeps making life easier for North Carolina’s offense: you can’t cover him with one type of defender and feel good about it.
“You can't put a corner out there; they'll be too small," Shipp said. "There's no linebacker I feel like in the country that's going to stay in front of Jelani.
There aren't too many safeties who can roam down and be a willing tackler but also try to guard him. He's a matchup nightmare.
There are times where it's like, 'Let's just get 45 the ball.'"
That approach has worked. Three games into the season, Thurman leads the Tar Heels with 183 receiving yards, and the redshirt junior tight end has already shown why UNC targeted him in the transfer portal. He said he wanted a place where he would be “used as an all-around tight end,” and that role has been on display right away.
Thurman, who spent three years at Ohio State, has 11 catches on the season, and five of them have gone for 20-plus yards. Two of those chunk plays came on North Carolina’s opening drive against TCU, and he finished that game with 94 receiving yards - more than he had in all of 2025 with the Buckeyes. He’s also done the less flashy work, using his blocking to help open lanes for the Tar Heels’ running backs.
That mix of production and versatility will matter again Saturday, when UNC hosts No. 3 Notre Dame at Kenan Stadium. The matchup will be Thurman’s second against the Fighting Irish, the same opponent he faced when he won a national championship with Ohio State two seasons ago.
"As a team, we just need to execute," said Thurman, a native of Fairburn, Georgia. "We need to play our best game and have no mental errors. Playing Notre Dame, they have a good defense, so I feel like as an offense we need to be all locked in."
North Carolina’s staff has made a habit of leaning on tight ends, and Thurman fits that mold. Bill Belichick pointed to the position’s history in his coaching career, naming Mark Bavaro, Benjamin Watson, Rob Gronkowski, Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith, while first-year offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino has also consistently valued the spot in his schemes.
Belichick is already sold on what Thurman brings.
"He's got a great future, and I'm glad we have him," Belichick said. "He's been a great addition to our team, both on and off the field.
His competitiveness. He's got a great personality and generates a lot of good competitive enthusiasm out on the field."
Thurman took that as a compliment and laughed when he heard the description.
"I feel like I'm an energetic guy," said Thurman. "I bring a lot of energy, drill in to drill out. I goof around a lot in practice, but I also like to focus, lock in and be a leader on the practice field."
That energy showed up throughout preseason camp, where UNC redshirt sophomore linebacker Jonathan Agumadu got repeated chances to line up across from him. Agumadu didn’t hesitate when asked what that meant.
"Jelani is probably going to be the best tight end I see all year," Agumadu said. "So going against him all fall camp was special because he's just physically more gifted than other people.
He's fast. He can block.
He can do everything a tight end can do. Just competing and getting better with him every day was an opportunity like none other."
When Thurman visited UNC this past offseason, he said he saw a beautiful campus. He also saw “the opportunity I could have to be a good football player.”
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Billy Edwards Jr. has stepped into a situation that already feels familiar to anyone who watched Mack Brown navigate similar coaching turbulence at Texas and then again in Chapel Hill. When the same kinds of struggles keep following different passers, the spotlight shifts from the player to the structure around him, and that is where UNCs latest offensive frustration seems to be leading. [Read more 🡒]