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CHAPEL HILL – New North Carolina offensive lineman Corey Gaynor met with the media Thursday to discuss why he transferred to the Tar Heels after spending the first five years of his college football career at Miami.
Gaynor was a 3-star prospect from Parkland, FL, in the class of 2017. He started 28 games and played 2,101 offensive snaps in parts of five seasons at Miami.
He played in 10 games, including a start, as a true freshman in 2017 before playing in only four games and redshirting as a sophomore. Gaynor was then the entrenched starter at center until his season ended this past fall after just three games.
Gaynor, who is 6-foot-4, 308 pounds, started 27 consecutive games before a knee injury, that initially occurred in the opener versus Alabama last September, exacerbated and caused him to be shelved after week three. He also was limited last spring because of an injury.
Overall, he played in 38 games for the Hurricanes, starting 28 times. His best season, from a PFF grading standpoint, was in 2019, when Gaynor earned a 62.1 overall grade, including 74.2 in pass blocking. He allowed one sack in three games last season, but impressively has been charged with allowing only seven in his career.
He has been charged as responsible for allowing seven hits on Canes quarterbacks, and allowed 14 QB hurries and 24 pressures.
Gaynor was flagged for 14 penalties in 27 games over the last three seasons. He was named ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week one time.
Above is video of Gaynor’s Q&A session and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
*Gaynor was recruited to Miami by current UNC OL Coach Stacy Searels when he served in the same role with the Hurricanes, so having Searels at UNC certainly played a big part in Gaynor choosing to play his final year at Carolina.
“Yes, definitely,” Gaynor said. “Me and Coach Searels have a great relationship, he recruited me back in 2017, and I started for him as a true freshman. I’m grateful that he took a chance on me again.”
*As noted above, Gaynor played in just four games this past season, as he had knee surgery and missed the remainder of the campaign. So how is his knee doing and does he plan on being a full go by next season?
“My knee is fantastic for where we are in the recovery process, and I will definitely be 100 percent for the season,” Gaynor said.
*Searels being at UNC was a major reason in Gaynor choosing the Tar Heels, but there were other things that appealed to him as well.
“Coach (Mack) Brown and the culture that he (is) building here,” Gaynor said. “And I just wanted to come play football, that’s all there really was to it. I just want to play football.”
*Gaynor has spent his college career playing in the ACC Coastal Division, which is where UNC resides as well, so what was his perception of UNC when he was at Miami, and has that changed at all since he arrived earlier this month?
“I don’t think I had pre-conceived notions of who and what was going on,” he replied. “But, now that I’ve been here for three weeks, I’m blessed to be a Tar Heel and I just want to do my part.”
*Gaynor has been in Chapel Hill for a few weeks and has gotten to know the other offensive linemen, and so far, things are going very well.
“We have been working out in winter workouts for the past three weeks now, and I’m getting to know the guys really well, their work ethic, so it’s been going great.”
*UNC has two players who have started at center returning with Quiron Johnson and Brian Anderson, so with Gaynor the team has three veterans with extensive experience starting at center. Gaynor did play some guard at Miami, but how much and how comfortable is he at the guard spots?
“Whatever the team needs me to do,” he said. “I played guard in 2017 as a freshman, that was the last time I played it, and whatever gets me on the field.”
As a follow up, Gaynor was asked how comfortable he is at guard considering he hasn’t played there in more than four years.
“Very comfortable,” he replied.
*Gaynor has a great deal of confidence in his skills as an offensive lineman. He is certainly experienced and has seen all kinds of things at the college level. But what he brings to UNC is something Searels and Brown absolutely want and need.
“Smart, tough, dependable, I give my all in the sense of I do extra, and I try to help my teammates and I bring them along,” he replied, listing his attributes.
*Gaynor would like to play in the NFL, and one of the reasons he chose UNC was because he believed it was a vehicle that could help get him to the next level.
“Definitely, that is another reason why I came back to school,” said Gaynor. “Because of the injury, I was told not to pursue the NFL because it wouldn’t be in my best interest.”
Gaynor then clarified that advice came from his family.
