CHAPEL HILL – Saturday’s football game versus Western Carolina will be Senior Day for North Carolina, so following Wednesday’s practice, UNC Coach Mack Brown read off a list of players who will be introduced for their final home games.
It included some non-seniors, such as Xach Gill and Matthew Flint, who stopped playing football in the spring due to an injury. But Brown also noted three prominent players currently listed as seniors who will return for next season, as they’re taking advantage of an NCAA rule counting this season against any current athletes.
First, here’s a list of players who will walk on Saturday: RB Michael Carter, WR Austyn Chestnut, WR Austin Chrismon, DS Trevor Collins, LB Matthew Flint, LB Tomon Fox, DL Xach Gill, K Cooper Graham, WR Mason Lauerence, WR Dazz Newsome, OL Tobechi Nwokeji, CB Patrice Rene, QB Jace Ruder, K Noah Ruggles, LB Chazz Surratt, and TE Garrett Walston.
The players walking will not be back at UNC next season.
Corrales, Hopper and Atkins could have chosen to walk with the seniors but will not.
“Beau Corrales and Tyrone Hopper are coming back for another year,” said Brown, who later noted during Wednesday’s post-practice interview that Atkins will also return. “And that's because the NCAA gave them the right to do that and they wanted to. So, both of them have told us that they are returning and it was okay for us to share that with you today."
Opting to take advantage of the NCAA rule and returning for next season are wide receiver Beau Corrales, defensive end/OLB Tyrone Hopper and placekicker Grayson Atkins.
Corrales has been the perfect candidate to take advantage of this rule since so much of his career has been interrupted. He didn’t play as a true freshman until the eighth game but playing in five contests could not redshirt. He was suspended for three games the following season and UNC only played 11, with the home games versus Central Florida cancelled because of a hurricane. Corrales played in 11 games last season and just four this year.
So, since he won’t play again this season, he would have been able to use it as a redshirt year, anyway. Corrales has 80 receptions for 1,176 yards and 12 touchdowns as a Tar Heel.
Hopper has batted injury issues and a suspension as well and only this season has he been available for every game. He played in 19 games before this campaign began and now 28 for his UNC career. He’s registered 59 tackles with 4.5 being sacks during his Carolina career.
“Tyrone is already in graduate school so I would think he would want to finish. I would think I’ve talked to Beau more about it than Tyrone,” Brown said. “Beau didn’t have the year he wanted because of his injury and he is going to get it fixed. So he should be back for spring practice and I think Beau wants to have a chance. He thinks we will be good next year and he wants to have a chance for a really good year.”
Atkins was a graduate transfer from Furman this past offseason and is in graduate school at UNC. He has another year to go academically, so he’s using that extra year to finish grad school and serve another season as UNC’s kicker. Atkins was an FCS All-America at Furman, and this season with the Tar Heels he’s converted all 46 extra point attempts and is 8-for-13 on field goal attempts. Two of his misses have come from beyond 50 yards and two others between 40-49 yards.
“Grayson is coming back. That’s good you asked. He has 2 years with graduate school anyway, but he is the other one that I should have written down. Grayson Atkins is coming back. So, he will be in that list with Tyrone Hopper and Beau Corrales.”
Brown also emphasized the staff did not recruit any of the players to return. Decisions were made based on some recent conversations with each player about their futures at UNC and afterward.
