CHAPEL HILL – Corey Gaynor didn’t want to leave North Carolina and college football with any unfulfilled objectives laying on the table.
He is a man on a mission, and by the good graces of the NCAA, was given another season to achieve his many goals, both personal and with respect to the Tar Heels. And he plans on making the most of every minute.
“I love Chapel Hill a lot,” said Gaynor. “So much so that I’d come back. I love the guys here, and I’m big into finishing what I started, and I feel like we have a lot of unfinished business.”
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Gaynor’s situation isn’t one where an athlete is holding on for one more season, his seventh in college, in a sport he just can’t yet walk away from. He had options.
None of the NFL Draft sites suggest Gaynor will be an upper-round pick a year from now, and most don’t have him getting selected, but he’d certainly sign an undrafted free agent deal and be in someone’s camp. And that’s all a guy like Gaynor really needs. The personification of a grinder, he would work it from there.
“There was a decision to make,” he said about returning to UNC. “And ultimately the best decision for my football career and the team was to come back and play another season.”
As for the team, Gaynor, a center who has played some guard in college, believes the Tar Heels can have a special season. He has developed a close personal relationship with ballyhooed UNC quarterback Drake Maye, and takes the responsibility of protecting him very seriously.
He also has a strong connection to the UNC program. It gave Gaynor and his football career a lifeline, and now he’s not only one of the best players on the team, but a vocal one when necessary, and a guy Heels on both sides of the ball are dialed into whatever he says.
Coastal Carolina transfer and offensive lineman Willie Lampkin says Gaynor is a no-BS kind of guy. No frills, but he is absolutely heard.
“He’s going to lead by example and push the group,” said Lampkin, the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Offensive Lineman of the Year. “Whenever the group’s down, he’s going to push the group. And that’s what we all need.”
Gaynor’s path to a 2023 season is in part a reflection of the Covid era, but also the NCAA letting up some on granting extra years of eligibility. This will be Gaynor’s seventh season in college, and no doubt his last.
A 3-star prospect from Parkland, FL, in the class of 2017, Gaynor played in ten games starting starting once for Miami in 2017. He played in four games the following year, and redshirted after being saddled with an injury.
He started all 13 contests in 2019 and started all 11 games in 2020. The Hurricanes starting center in 2021, Gaynor’s season ended after he sustained a knee injury in the opener versus Alabama. Following last fall, in which he started every game for the Tar Heels, Gaynor’s appeal to the NCAA for another year was granted, so he’s back for one final ride.
The decision to return took time for Gaynor to make up his mild, all the while he was waiting for an answer from the NCAA. It was an involved process.
“I’ve played a lot of college football, I’ve played a lot of games,” he said. “I really thought last year was my last year. Towards the end of the season, I felt like there was a lot of unfinished business. And like I said, I’m a believer in finishing what I started.
“Being Drake Maye’s center is a big deal to me, being able to protect him. He’s a really good friend of mine. It wasn’t difficult after you put all those things together. I’m here to play for the team, I’m here to serve, and I’m very excited to be back in Chapel Hill.”
One more go-around for Gaynor, and he’s as committed as ever.
“He’s all in,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said. “And man, he works hard.”
That is the only way Gaynor knows how to approach football. He’s all in for sure, for one last go-around.
