Newsome seeks to put NFL hope in secure hands

Tar Heel from Hampton vows to end drops

All the spectacular one-handed grabs last season and tough catches in traffic over the middle, and all the hype going into a potentially record-breaking senior season is fine, but Dazz Newsome remains haunted.

He often spent up to a half-hour at a time this offseason in an open field in Newport News working on catching passes thrown to him from cousin and fellow Hampton High alum David Watford while running one single route over and over. Then, Newsome repeated the same process for another route until he felt comfortable.

They were the routes that caused him sleepless nights last season as a junior wide receiver at North Carolina.

“No more drops,” Newsome said regarding his new personal mantra.

“That’s something I haven’t accomplished that I definitely have to accomplish next season.”

UNC wide receivers coach Lonnie Galloway wouldn’t elaborate on the exact number of drops Newsome had last season, but confirmed it was near double digits.

Of course, the drops were outliers. Newsome had a junior season that established him as one of the best slot receivers in the nation.

His 72 catches for 1,018 receiving yards (14.1 yards per catch) and 10 touchdowns made him the ninth ACC player in the past 20 years to finish with more than 70 receptions, 10 touchdowns and an average of at least 14 yards per catch, according to ACCsports.com. He needs 1,153 receiving yards to become UNC’s career leader in the