Five North Carolina football players chose a do-over senior season. Here’s why.
Five North Carolina seniors had myriad personal reasons for choosing to return for another final football season, yet they each overlapped on one in particular.
They believe the Tar Heels have to potential to do something special next season.
Linebackers Tyrone Hopper and Tomon Fox, receiver Beau Corrales, tight end Garrett Walston and kicker Grayson Atkins, in a normal year, would have exhausted their eligibility after the Heels’ 41-27 loss to Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl.
But thanks to an NCAA waiver passed last summer for all fall sports, they had the option to play another senior year with the thought that it won’t be interrupted by COVID-19. They’re the only football players who took advantage of it at UNC.
“I felt like we have some very special going on the Carolina, so I really want to be a part of that,” Hopper said. “We showed it last year and I feel like this upcoming year that we’re going to be one of the biggest teams, like we’re going to be the hunted next year.”
Until otherwise noted, Clemson is still the team to beat in the ACC. But Carolina likes its chances if it gets a shot against the Tigers. The two will only play if they meet in the ACC Championship game.
Is the College Football Playoff obtainable for the Tar Heels?
The Heels, coming off an 8-4 season, return all of their defensive starters from the Orange Bowl. They return 10 offensive starters including quarterback Sam Howell, who they have already begun in earnest promoting for the 2021 Heisman Trophy.
There’s a palpable buzz around the program unlike what any of the seniors have ever experienced before because of the potential to be great.
“This team understands where we were, but where we can be,” Walston said. “Everybody’s eager and hungry and wants to make it to that, you know, to that top four.”
Every Power-5 program dangles the College Football Playoff as a goal at the beginning of the season since, technically speaking, winning one of those conferences could put it in the conversation. Most seasons at Carolina, it’s more of an abstract kind of goal. This offseason, it feels like a dream and more like a tangible goal it can achieve.
As a result, the players have been preparing themselves accordingly. Walston mentioned the early enrollees are already in the film room and probing the veterans with questions. And that their group texts are filled every day with players wanting to put in extra work. Fox said there’s a greater sense of doing for the collective good.
“As far as last year, we had a lot of people doing the individual things to get better,” Fox said. “But now we’re bringing each other up and trying to create this new standard out here that everybody has to rise to.”
A full offseason to prepare?
Corrales believes that desire coupled with actually having a full offseason of preparation will boost the Heels next season. He pointed out that last spring the team was, “on zoom, doing squats with backpacks filled with books and stuff.”
He said being able to funnel their energy and motivation into workouts will elevate the program.
“The culture that we got right now is crazy,” Corrales said. “Everything’s buzzing around the building. Everybody’s happy to be back. It’s an exciting thing to be a part of.”
It’s a big reason why they all chose to come back. And a big reason why they’re already willing to work toward their goals.
“The sky’s the limit for this team,” Walston said. “There’s a bunch of young guys that are very talented and I think next year this team’s gonna take Carolina football to new heights that they’ve never seen.”