Born & Bred: Second Home
Carolina's standout linebackers aren't traditional homegrown Tar heels, but they're poised to be the strength of an improved defense.
By Lee Pace, October 13, 2023
In another time and place, Cedric Gray could be wearing the red, yellow and black of the University of Maryland. And Power Echols could be adorned in Spartan green and white and rampaging through Big Ten backfields.
Gray and Echols are the opposite of legacy members of the Tar Heel football roster, players like Drake Maye and Caleb Hood, whose fathers (Mark Maye and Errol Hood, respectively) wore the Carolina blue jersey many years ago.
Gray and Echols were born and grew up in distant locales with far-flung geographical influences, Gray spending 10 years in the District of Columbia area before moving to Charlotte in 2012 and Echols having the Big Ten influence of his father, a former Michigan State defensive back, and spending his adolescence in Arizona before moving to Charlotte when he was 12 years old.
But no matter.
Both fell under the umbrella of Mack Brown’s emphasis on recruiting in-state talent and, in particular, the Charlotte area. Gray came to Chapel Hill from Ardrey Kell High in south Charlotte in 2020, and Echols from Julius Chambers High (the former Vance High) northeast of the city the following year.
“If you control Charlotte, you win the state in recruiting,” says Tommy Thigpen, the Tar Heel linebackers coach who recruits the Queen City and the surrounding area. “And if you win the state of North Carolina, you’ll be right there for the ACC championship. Coach Brown made a big statement as soon as he got here, getting Sam Howell [from Sun Valley High in the southeast suburbs of Charlotte]. We’ve done well there ever since.”
And Gray and Echols represent the opposite ends of the spectrum in how their recruiting stories unfolded— with Gray getting scant Power 5 attention as a wide receiver and Echols establishing himself as a fierce linebacker in the ninth grade and able to write his ticket to any elite school in the country.
Gray was a victory for the Tar Heels in talent evaluation, in sniffing out a diamond in the rough.
Echols was a win in offering a collegiate opportunity and program juice that beat off everyone from Clemson to Tennessee to Penn State.
“Coach Brown always says, the evaluation is the most important thing,” Thigpen says. “We don’t care about the so- called stars or whatever. People who give out stars are in the recruiting business, not the football business. There can be a huge difference.”
Gray won “offensive player of the year” honors on his team as a sophomore in 2017, prompting Kell assistant coach Trey Kavanaugh to tweet at various times, “Will be telling your story for a long time” and “This kid’s special.” He played both ways as his career evolved, lining up at receiver and at safety and linebacker on defense. But the consensus among the college scouts was that his size and skills were not ideal fits for either side of the ball.
Through 2018 and early into 2019, Gray’s social media timeline included “Blessed to receive an offer from ….” with Youngstown State, Campbell, Marshall, Kent State, UMass, Appalachian State, Toledo and Coastal Carolina the schools jockeying for position.
Thigpen saw something more.
“You talked to the local coaches and his name just kept coming up,” he says. “It’s not what the recruiting services think, it’s what do your peers think about you, what do opposing coaches think about you? A common theme about Ced was that he’s a dawg and he’s an alpha male. He loved football. He was crazy aggressive and had a huge football I.Q. As a 17 or 18-year-old, his demeanor was just different.”
Cedric Gray as a youth league player.
Power Echols playing youth ball age 12 in Arizona
Gray committed to the Tar Heels in April 2019, the spring before his senior year, signed in December and enrolled in January 2020.
He learned his way playing under Chazz Surratt and Jeremiah Gemmel as a freshman and was given the chance to start in the third game of the 2021 season. Since then, he’s started 25 straight games, hardly ever leaving the field, and in 2022 was first team All-ACC, his 145 tackles and 82 solos ranking first among all Power 5 defenders.
“I look at guys and the offers they had and see where they are now and just kind of chuckle,” he says. “It was frustrating, but I carried a chip on my shoulder. It’s been there ever since. God had a plan for me, and it’s worked out best for me. You can only go to one school, so it doesn’t matter how many offers you get. I brought the mentality I was just going to grind until my opportunity comes.”
Meanwhile, there was no question about Echols.
Brian Echols played at Michigan State for head coach George Perles and secondary coach Mark Dantonio in the late 1990s. When his son was born, Echols wanted a name that reflected the essence of “power.”
“I had all these ideas and tried different words that I thought represented what the word ‘power’ stood for,” says Echols, today a private school athletic director in Mesa, Ariz. “Finally, I realized the best word was ‘power’ itself.”
Father gave son an introduction and access to all sports as a youngster and watched as Power gravitated to football, that passion enhanced by watching NFL Films tapes of John Facenda’s voice narrating old-school, smash-mouth games on the frozen tundra.
“His eyes lit up watching those films,” Brian says. “He was so dialed-in. He connected the dots as a kid.”
That’s what Thigpen saw when Echols was in the ninth grade. He not only showed that signature tenacity but speed as well, clocking a 4.5 time in the 40-yard dash at summer camp in Chapel Hill before he played a high school down.
“He was an alpha, alpha male, the most impactful and most feared guy in Charlotte,” Thigpen says. “He was a natural terror on the football field. He was so much fun to watch. You throw a fade he’s going to run to the fade. Blitz him and he’ll destroy your running back. His energy and love for football were really contagious.”
Carolina was the first school to offer Echols, this in the spring of his sophomore year. He committed in January 2020, while a junior in high school, then enrolled the following January. He drew a round of “oh my” the first day of live contact that spring when he flattened a senior offensive guard in the backfield. He stepped into the starting lineup as a sophomore in 2022, earning honorable mention All-ACC honors while making 103 tackles, with 70 solo stops that ranked fifth in the Power 5. At Miami in mid-October, he was all over the field, notching 14 tackles.
“Power knows one speed,” Thigpen says. “He will impose his will on you. He loves football. He’s violent and extremely intelligent. He and Ced are both like Sam Howell—they’re football junkies. They’re always watching tape, always figuring out how they can get better.”
Gray and Echols rarely left the field during the 2022 season not only because they were so lethal together but also because the Tar Heels had limited depth at the position. Brown told them every week, “Don’t get hurt, don’t get a targeting flag and don’t let your helmet pop off. We can’t have you coming out.” Gray in No. 33 and Echols in No. 23 harkened comparison to another dynamic duo of yesteryear—Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen from the Chicago Bulls’ 1990s championship runs.
They also stood out in 2022 because they were the one position on defense that was truly outstanding, with the unit in tandem ranking No. 101 among FBS schools in scoring defense with 31 points allowed per game and No. 115 in total defense with 436 yards allowed. The front wall didn’t generate enough pass rush, the back line allowed too many explosive plays. With this being year two in coordinator Gene Chizik’s system, with some staff tweaks, with the return of several injured defenders and the addition of several newcomers via the transfer portal, Gray and Echols are both confident the defense will stage a turnaround in 2023.
“Last year everyone was getting accustomed to a new defense,” Gray says. “I definitely think we were a very talented team on defense but definitely had a few wrinkles to shake out. Toward the end of the year, I think you saw better defensive play. We will only grow now that we have that year under us. I am very confident. I think we will have a special year.”
“I am really tired of talking about it,” Echols says. “It irks me we even have to have this conversation about the defense. I know how good we are. Now I just want to put it on the field.”
Thigpen says to have one player like Gray or Echols every 10 years is a delight to a coach. But have two at the very same time?
“Power and Ced make practice enjoyable,” Thigpen says. “I call it ‘recess.’ It’s fun. You go out there they push each other so hard. The power and energy are like nothing you’ve ever seen.”