CHAPEL HILL – Don’t adjust your eyes, Tony Grimes will be out there on the field locking down at cornerback again this fall, but he will look at tad different.
No longer donning number 20, as he did the last two seasons, the junior from Virginia Beach is now sporting a new number, and one that pretty much sizes him up. Grimes now wears number one, and he says it fits him to a tee.
“One look good,” Grimes said about his new number. “One look real good, especially at DB or Rude Boys.”
Rude Boys are Carolina’s culture of defensive backs, both corners and safeties, reflecting a persona they bring to the field every game and every day in practice. It is quite clear the highly confident Grimes wants to be the rudest of the rude boys, so wearing number one makes a whole lot of sense.
“One looks good,” he said, again. “So, when the opportunity came when it was open, I had to take it. I love 20, and I started off in 20, but number one is the next step for me. It’s the next step in my game.”
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The next step in Grimes’ game means accruing a series of accolades, and ultimately ending up in the NFL. The potential is there. His game has shown flashes of being on its way to satisfying that mission, but the process remains. The next biggest steps for Grimes is to be numero uno on the field, not just in the game program.
To get there, elements of his game need shoring up. None of this is lost on Grimes.
“I wasn’t very pleased with myself last year,” he said. “Others may say I had a great season, some may say I had an okay season, but as for myself, I wasn’t pleased with myself last year.”
The 6-foot-1, 197-pounder was fifth on the team with 47 tackles last season after playing 813 snaps. Receivers he was covering were targeted 60 times with 32 receptions for 435 yards and three scores. He had nine PBUs, but no interceptions.
Grimes graded below 54 just once last season, according to PFF, and that was in the loss to South Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. He was above 70 twice, and usually settled between the 58 and 68 range.
“Now, I did do some things on the field that I’m proud of, but as in a physical aspect I need to get better at,” he said. “So, that’s what I’m doing in spring ball, fall season, whole off season getting more physical. Not even learn how to tackle just you know.”
Tackling was a point of emphasis in spring practice, and the team as a whole is playing with more physicality. Grimes has good size, he can cover fairly well, and it will improve, he says, but developing a grittier edge is absolutely a must if he plans on sticking in the NFL when that day comes.
He continues focusing on other parts of his game, too. Grimes wants to be the best, so there is certainly more than one thing on his offseason check list.
“I want to say tackling,” he said. “Getting off blocks, coming downhill, and showing up when its time.”
Grimes arrived at UNC a year early, but he has quickly caught up from football, social, and academic perspectives. Included in his personal growth was an experience he had this offseason attending the NCAA Elite Student-Athlete Symposium during the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
It gave Grimes and other major NFL candidates a chance to watch the process, but also discuss it and all that goes along with being a pro football player.
“I had an amazing time and it was an amazing opportunity to go,” Grimes said. “Very blessed, very blessed to go there and have the opportunity. Going there just seeing how the draft is. Seeing what’s life after the draft. What’s life in the league. How the league works and what you need to be successful in the league.
“And it’s not always like the one thing that they kept hitting on was average like average time is three, is three to five, three or four years. So, you’re not going to make it that long, so they basically just telling you just film. Watch film because at the next level is yeah it’s physicality, but it’s more up here (pointing to his head).”
Grimes is considered a potential first-round pick in 2023, including his presence in multiple early mock drafts. But anyone who watches him play and understands the game on an elementary level recognizes his skills and high ceiling.
So, when the Tar Heels take the field this fall, the guy fans are used to seeing donner number 20 will instead be wearing number one. The other differences: He’s a year older, stronger, tougher, smarter, wiser, and closer to his ultimate goal.
