The 2021 season didn’t go as planned for the UNC football program and that’s saying it nicely. After starting the year ranked No. 10 in the preseason polls, UNC quickly fell with a loss to Virginia Tech and then losses to programs like Georgia Tech and Florida State a few weeks later.
It was an up and down season for Mack Brown’s Tar Heels as they were barely bowl game eligible and then blew a two-score lead in their season finale at NC State.
But it was their final game of the year that left a bad taste in a lot of player’s mouths.
UNC dropped their matchup with South Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl 38-21 and it wasn’t really even that close. From the start UNC looked uninterested as the game was never in doubt for the Gamecocks. And following the game, UNC players weren’t happy with the performance.
“That was embarrassing,” wide receiver Josh Downs said at ACC media days via ESPN. “That got a fire in me. In that locker room after the game, we had a lot of dudes stand up and say we’re not doing this next year. We’re getting this together right now rather than waiting a few weeks. We’re doing this now.”
When you enter a season with high expectations like UNC did and then it all comes crashing down, it’s easy for guys to get distracted. And Downs hinted at that happening with that team.
“We had some guys who talking crazy like, ‘I don’t even want to play,’ and it showed out there,” said Downs, who finished with 101 catches and 1,335 yards last season. “We got smacked. And I didn’t want to be a part of something like that, and we had to fix it.”
Now, the wide receiver and his teammates are using that as motivation for this upcoming season where the Tar Heels enter it ‘criminally underrated’ and just how Brown wants it to be.
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