CHAPEL HILL – While last season was a breakout year for North Carolina football, as the Tar Heels played in their first major bowl game in 71 years, it was a challenge for Storm Duck.
He didn’t get a chance to fully appreciate what the other players went through growing weekly and eventually facing Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl. Duck could have given it a go in South Florida but chose to hold off. No point in exacerbating the lower body injury that derailed his season in October.
But he sure gave it some deep thought.
“Actually, I’d say the last two games of the season, I was in a decision whether I wanted to come back and play or should I just sit out and wait it out,” Duck said. “I was actually practicing before the Miami game (and) and little bit before the Orange Bowl game. Personally, I didn’t feel like the time was right for me to come back.
“I wasn’t going to play at the level I was playing at the beginning of the season, so I figured it was best for me to sit out.”
The level Duck is used to playing rises well above what a gimpy player could have given the Tar Heels in those games. Plus, the Boiling Springs, SC, native has a personal standard, to which he simply couldn’t waiver.
Duck is on a mission, and it won’t end on the field when his UNC days are up. And the irony of the injury is that Duck might have improved as a result.
“He missed playing, and it was really, really hard emotionally,” Brown said. “You add COVID, you add the social justice issues we’ve got out there, and you add not being able to play, he did a good job handling it. He’s from a wonderful family.
“But I worry about all the young people out there now because they’ve got so much on them, and then you add a foot injury (and) it makes it even tougher. He got stronger, he studied every day, he knows what to do. If he stays healthy, I don’t think there’s any question he’ll be an NFL player.”
Toughness isn’t just a physical ruggedness viewable by all to see. It begins internally and is tested when challenging times arrive. For Duck, that was last fall, and it wasn’t easy.
But he battled through.
“The first thing I had to do was mentally, I’d never been in the position to where I’d sat out – I’ve never missed a whole football season in my life,” he said. “Mentally, I feel like I had to mature a lot and get to know the playbook better.
“Knowing what different players are doing, like leverages and splits and all that and how to play them. But overall, I feel like mentally get right, and that’s really what helped me. Getting my mind right is what got me through that.”
Having his mind right will help as he competes for his old starting spot in a crowded cornerbacks room loaded with other players with NFL potential and aspirations.
Kyler McMichael filled in quite nicely for Duck, and eventually ballyhooed freshman Tony Grimes took over at the other corner. Grimes was a top-10 player nationally in the class of 2021, though he enrolled last August. It didn’t take too long before the former 5-star started showing his talent.
Duck embraces the idea of competing with McMichael and Grimes, and they have his respect, too.
“Kyler and Tony are two great players,” Duck said. “They come out every day and battle and compete. We come out every day and try to make each other better and those two, they come out and bring it every day, even if it’s individual drills, one-on-ones, scale team. Those two are really good players, and we just like to battle and compete.”
Carolina is in good shape with that trio at the corners, and excellent shape with Duck back healthy and pushing the group forward.
Brown says he is an NFL player, and this fall he will have a chance to show the league one more time, too.
