Cedric Gray on having that ‘dog’ mentality for UNC’s defense
The UNC football program is off to a great start. With half of its regular season finished, it stands firm among the best schools in the nation with a 6-0 record.
A large part of the North Carolina Tar Heels success this season is their revamped defense led by senior linebacker Cedric Gray. Saturday night, Gray and the defense showed the nation their new style of play in their prime-time dismantling of the Miami Hurricanes 41-31.
Gray, who has been a vocal leader for UNC’s defense, is used to having big games against Miami. In the press conference following the win, he revealed that his mom texted him Saturday morning telling him that he plays so well against Miami, believing he will have another good one.
Safe to say she was right. Last season, Gray had 13 tackles against the Hurricanes. In 2021, Gray had a six tackle and two interception game, and last night, Gray shined again with ten tackles, one interception, and a fumble recovery.
Gray was all smiles meeting with the media, rocking his signature shirt. Gray, who had a scary moment in the game after getting the wind knocked out of him, explained how he and Drake Maye shared a moment about staying on the field after the hit.
“Me and him(Drake Maye) just have this dog mentality,” Gray said. “Like he said, you going to have to drag us off the field. It is going to take a lot to really take us off the field because that is just how we are built.”
Despite a good win, it showed some areas for improvement, which Gray echoed what the team needed to clean up.
“The first thing is that our penalties were awful today. We had far too many penalties. We shot ourselves in the foot on offense and defense. On the first drive, Miami scored they had 45 penalty yards, which is unacceptable. It’s hard to play like that. That is the very first thing that I noticed that we can clean up as a team. We will come back, we will watch the film. Fix our mistakes like we do every week and move on.”
Seeing a leader still call out a glaring issue after a big win is always great. It shows the team is not complacent with just winning and is determined to prove it is no fluke.
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