Travel with camping gear advice

So 5 friends and I are planning a road trip from Kentucky to Arizona sometime in the spring/early summer and we plan on renting a van to drive the way there, and possibly leaving the van at the airport in Phoenix and flying back. Some rough plans at the moment are to tent camp in a few KOAs on the way.

I’ve never done any real camping very far away from where I live, so I’ve never had to fly with any type of camping gear. I know one of my friends has a 6 person tent, and as far as I know we don’t plan on doing any cooking with a camp stove or anything. So I assume the main things we would need are the tent (pegs and everything of course), blankets and pillows, and some kind of mattress for us all? Is it pretty reasonable as far as weight and everything to fly with that stuff? Not too many problems with TSA granted all “weapon” items are in checked bags? Should we throw out the idea of flying back and bite the bullet and drive the whole way back? Which seems like a more reasonable idea? Should we buy things and possibly leave some there, or rent certain things? Do y’all have any recommendations for products? I’m sorry if these are dumb questions, this is really my first road trip as far as stopping in a lot of places and camping. Thank you!