Former Tar Heel: Josh Downs, Year Three In Indianapolis

Downs played three seasons in Chapel Hill under former head coach Mack Brown, and he was on the receiving end for arguably two of the best signal callers in program history in Sam Howell and Drake Maye. Despite not having much team success did not happen during his time at UNC, that does not take away from his accolades and his highlight reel performances.

Imagine if head coach Bill Belichick had someone Downs on his roster right now? That would be an interesting player-coach combination.

GoHeels wrote about Downs' stats, outings, and accolades, check them out below:

"Started all 11 games he appeared in • PFF first-team All-America • Tabbed second-team All-America by AP, FWAA and Phil Steele • First-team All-ACC • Biletnikoff Award Semifinalist • ACC Receiver of the Week (11/7, 11/14) • Led the ACC in receptions (94), yards receiving (1029), receptions per game (8.5) and yards receiving per game (93.5) • Ranked second in the FBS in receptions per game, seventh in touchdown receptions and 11th in in receiving yards per game

•  Third player at UNC with over 90 catches in a season • His 11 touchdown grabs were the second-most in the ACC and fourth-most in UNC history • Finished the season with over 1,000 yards receiving for the second consecutive season (1,029) • Had a team-high nine receptions for 78 yards and two receiving TDs in the season opener against FAMU • Returned from a two-game absence and scored twice and had five catches for 32 yards against Notre Dame

• Had 120 receiving yards on eight receptions against Virginia Tech • Had a team-high six receptions for 69 yards and a TD at Miami • Came up with nine catches for 126 yards at Duke • Equaled his career high with 11 catches for 102 receiving yards and scored two touchdowns against Pitt • Also returned a punt for 23 yards against the Panthers

• Had a career-high 15 receptions for 166 yards and a touchdown at Virginia • Had 11 receptions for 154 yards and three touchdowns at Wake Forest • Had three catches for 31 yards against Georgia Tech • Had six catches for 51 yards against NC State • Caught 11 passes for 100 yards in the ACC Championship game against Clemson."

For a description of Downs' career overall, here's an excerpt also found on GoHeels:

"Finished his career with 2,483 yard receiving, the fourth-highest total in Carolina lore • Had 22 career touchdown receptions, second-most in school history • One of three players in UNC history with over 200 career receptions, finishing third on the school’s all-time list with 202 • One of two players in Carolina history with two 1,000-yard receiving seasons."

As Downs enters his third season in Indianapolis under head coach Shane Steichen, he will be preparing to add more touchdowns, currently sitting with seven through two seasons. But as he showed in Chapel Hill, he's capable of doing just that, and then some.

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