Quietly waiting his turn, receiver Justin Olson ready to shine for UNC football

The waiting, North Carolina receiver Justin Olson admitted, was the hardest part. Two years into his collegiate career and he’s collected exactly zero passes. Not even in the spring game. He’s rarely even got the opportunity to line up at receiver.

That’ll all change this season.

Olson’s turn has arrived. He may be the best receiver no one outside of Chapel Hill has paid attention to — but to be fair, there was really no reason to do so.

“I’ve challenged Justin to try to carve out a role for himself,” UNC receivers coach Lonnie Galloway said. “As a group, your peers know who should be out there playing, and they (receivers) all have confidence in him and Sam (Howell) and the quarterbacks have confidence in him.”

Olson has established himself as a potential starter for in the wake of Dyami Brown and Daz Newsome going to the NFL. Olson has practiced at both a slot receiver and on the outside. His speed will place him among Carolina’s new deep threats with Antoine Green and Khafre Brown.

“There was a lot of times where it was hard, you know,” Olson said. “Not even traveling my freshman year, watching from my house. I mean, that hurt. I want to be with the team. But you look at the roster and you’re like, ‘OK, well, Dyami’s a great player.’ ”

Pretty soon, the players who end up backing up Olson may say the same thing about him.

That may come as a shock to UNC’s opponents, considering Olson hasn’t played any offensive downs that mattered for the Heels in two seasons. He has been steadily preparing for his chance.

“Justin Olson, he’s a baller people really sleep on,” Green said. “Actually, I watch him a lot myself because he gives 100 percent effort all the time. He tries to do everything right, and he’s a great player overall.”

Olson said playing on the practice squad and going against the Heels’ top defensive backs in Storm Duck and Trey Morrison helped him improve. Watching Brown and Newsome perform also helped.

“I say I’ve been chopping the tree, I started last fall just knocking at it,” Olson said. “Obviously, Dyami is beyond me. And it’s that simple. So, you know, I just had to wait my turn, and just keep learning from him.”

The 6-foot-2 sophomore from Huntersville had one reason that kept him from becoming like many others who succumb to the temptation of the transfer portal and the instant gratification, albeit uncertain future, it dangles.

Olson was still playing junior varsity in high school when many others like his roommate Khafre Brown were already getting offers from high major schools in their freshman or sophomore seasons.

“I was still on JV and I didn’t really get to explode until my senior year,” Olson said. “So this wasn’t quite my first time waiting you know, so I just held on to that.”

Olson added that UNC was his only offer from a Power 5 conference school. Even if he did transfer, he wasn’t sure that he’d stay at the highest level of college football. And more than anything else, he said he for sure wanted to earn a degree from UNC.

That kept his mind from wandering during his true freshman season in 2019, when he got injured early and didn’t even get to travel with the team for road games. And even last spring when he was making progress only to be sidelined with COVID-19 and not participate in the spring game.

“Freshman year and with Dyami here you’re working — and not like you don’t have expectations — but the eyes aren’t on you,” Olson said. “So now that they are, I began to put so much pressure on myself.”

Galloway said Olson has developed into one of Carolina’s most consistent receivers, especially on deep routes.

“It’s one of those things, if you ask any of the DBs, he’s one of the guys that was a hard cover for them,” Galloway said.

The compliments from his teammates, while it has given him confidence and sometimes served as a needed pick-me-up, haven’t gone to Olson’s head. He knows what it’s like not to play and he has no intentions on going back to that.

“No sir, not at all, because I’ve got to keep on going,” Olson said. “... You can’t ever get content.”