UNC football emerges from ‘darkness’: Why coach says Tar Heels can now ‘see the stars’
There were many who probably laughed at North Carolina’s Mack Brown.
North Carolina was mired in a four-game losing streak, had been blistered by 70 points by James Madison at Kenan Stadium, was playing with their third-string quarterback and was a team that was spiraling.
But despite all the football adversity, despite the death of wide receiver Tylee Craft to cancer, despite the angst of many uneasy Carolina fans, the head coach continued to believe better days were still ahead for his football team and said so, time and again.
This season, not next season.
“To see the stars,” Brown said late Saturday night, “you’ve got to go through the darkness.”
The dark days are over. If there was laughter, it has stopped.
After Carolina’s 31-24 win over Wake Forest on Saturday, the Tar Heels have won three straight. They have six wins for the season, qualifying for another bowl game, and have evened their ACC record at 3-3.
It’s a healthy team. It’s a confident team. It’s now a winning team, the vibes all positive.
“For this team to have been in such a hole, very few teams in my estimation could have come out of this,” Brown said Saturday. “That means they’ve got great character.
“And you can take two different paths. You can go down and just quit, and you’ve got plenty of excuses. And they didn’t do that. They kept their head up, they kept fighting, they kept competing.”
The Tar Heels beat Wake Forest with Omarion Hampton the ultimate force at running back, pounding out a career-high 244 yards. That third-string QB, Jacolby Criswell, has proven he can handle the job as QB 1. The defense is playing looser, tougher.
“Confidence,” Brown said, “is such a wonderful thing.”
UNC forced three turnovers Saturday, including an interception that linebacker Power Echols sprinted back 42 yards for a TD. Defensive coordinator Geoff Collins was so pumped he did 30 pushups — 10 for each turnover, he said — on the sideline late in the game.
“I’m going to be so sore tomorrow,” Collins said, and he wasn’t complaining. He was smiling.
After Saturday’s game, in the tunnel to the locker room, Brown said he heard one senior excitedly scream to another, “We are bowl eligible, man. This is so cool.”
Contrast that to the JMU debacle, when Brown walked up the same tunnel toward the same locker room so angry – mostly at himself – that he thought about offering to step down as coach, let someone else take over. He didn’t. The team wouldn’t let him.
The Georgia Tech loss was another dark day, another tough post-game walk. Craft died that morning, at age 23. Brown would be told by his wife, Sally, after the game. That was justmoments after the Yellow Jackets had won on a long, final-minute run by Jamal Haynes.
Then came a bye week. The Tar Heels traveled as a team to South Carolina for a funeral, to say goodbye to Craft, their teammate, their inspiration. They dedicated the season, what was left of it, to No. 13, who had meant so much to so many. They’re winning for him.
“It’s a testament to our brother in heaven, Tylee Craft,” Echols said. “What we’re dealing with, there’s a whole lot of things we can’t control. His motto was ‘Keep swinging’ and I feel like our team has come together and we’ll keep swinging.”
Craft’s mother, September, was at Saturday’s game. The nutrition center in the Kenan Football Center has been named in her son’s honor. The Kenan Stadium field had two “Tylee Strong, 13” logos.
After the game, September Craft told Brown, “Let’s win out. Do it for Tylee.”
The Tar Heels want to do just that – win at Boston College, win on Senior Day against N.C. State. Then go to a bowl game and win that, too.
Finish 9-4. Finish Tylee strong.
“This team, they’re on a mission to finish right,” Brown said. “Right now, they’re playing good football and I’m really, really proud of them, and I’m enjoying watching them play, watching them have fun.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2024 at 9:56 AM.
