Corey Gaynor breaks down reason for 2023 return, motivation

North Carolina center Corey Gaynor has been around college football for a long time now. After five seasons at Miami and a grad year with the Tar Heels in 2022.

But despite all that time in the sport, Gaynor decided to return to North Carolina for his seventh season of college football.

“I love Chapel Hill,” Gaynor said back in March after a spring practice. “A lot. So much so that I’d come back. I love the guys here and I’m big into the finishing what I started and I felt like we had a lot of unfinished business.”

He said that there was a decision to make and it wasn’t just as easy thing to decide. But when push came to shove, he said the best move for himself and the team was to come back a second campaign in North Carolina.

“I’ve played a lot of college football,” Gaynor said. “I’ve played a lot of games. I really thought last year was my last year. But towards the end of that season, like I said, I felt like there was a lot of unfinished business. Like I said, I’m a big believer in finishing what I started. Being Drake Maye’s center is a big deal to me as well. Protecting him, he’s a good friend of mine, really good friend of mine. It wasn’t difficult after you put all those things together. I’m here to play for the team. I’m here to serve. I’m very excited to be back in Chapel Hill.”

Corey Gaynor on how the team is improving ahead of 2023

North Carolina had a successful 2022 season with an ACC Coastal Division title but left plenty of run for improvement. Gaynor addressed the run game specifically and how the running backs and offensive line are improving.

“As a running back group, they’re getting more north and south,” Gaynor said. “That’s very important. As an o-line were coming off the football and we’re putting more of an emphasis (on) getting off the ball getting on the second level guys.”

The way the season ended for the Tar Heels, losing their final four games, has also served as motivation for the team throughout the offseason.

“We won nine,” Gaynor said. “We want to win all of them. We want to win all of the football games. Everyone in this building works so hard. That’s the goal. We don’t wake up every day five in the morning. We don’t we don’t bust our tails all this time to not win all the games. We want to hold the big trophy. We got the last Coastal trophy ever. That’s awesome. That’s a big deal for this program but we want the big one.”