Patrice Rene mentored Trey Morrison and Greg Ross. Now, they'll try to do him proud as UNC's top cornerbacks

Despite an excellent performance in North Carolina’s 28-25 victory over Miami on Saturday night, Trey Morrison's sole focus wasn't the postgame celebration.

Like many of his teammates, the sophomore cornerback’s thoughts were with his teammate, Patrice Rene, whose season came to an end after suffering a torn ACL while diving to try to break up a pass in the end zone and banging his right knee off teammate Myles Wolfolk’s helmet.

“It’s impacted us a lot,” Morrison said. “To me, Patrice is like a big brother … he’s really showed me everything and helped me out a lot. It really hit me hard.”

It was confirmed that Rene would be out for the rest of the season on Monday morning when Rene tweeted a message to fans and Carolina confirmed that it would be without its top cornerback for the rest of the season.

But despite Rene’s absence on the field, a part of him will be out there in both Morrison (5-10, 190) and his former roommate, Greg Ross (6-0, 190).

“I feel like that’s a big role, stepping in for him,” Ross said. “Just for his situation, that’s tough; senior year. I feel like it would mean a lot to him for me to step up and take over that role and get the job done and do what I’ve got to do to help this team win.”

In the preseason, the thought of losing Rene would have been a worst-case scenario for a Tar Heel defense that lacked depth and experience at the cornerback position, but luckily for coordinator Jay Bateman, both Morrison and Ross have thrived in bigger roles this season while true freshman Storm Duck got his feet wet in the opener.

Morrison, who previously played the nickel spot, broke up two potential touchdown passes for Miami while being matched up with Jeff Thomas, a former four-star recruit who led the Hurricanes in receiving last season.

“He’s got great quickness,” Bateman said. “When you’re talking playing press man, you’ve got to win at the line of scrimmage, you’ve got to win at the end and get to the top of the route. I think he did a great job of winning both sides, winning at the line of scrimmage and at the top of the route multiple times.”

Meanwhile, Ross moves into Morrison’s spot after earning more playing time thanks to renewed focus and intentions this season.

Ross’ struggles last season were well documented, but over the spring and summer, linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel saw a new player.

“He was a little inconsistent when it came to his technique and also learning the playbook,” he said. “We’d go out to the indoor and he’d be out there working on his technique himself, and I’d never seen that from him before.”

They’ll be tested immediately, matching up with Wake Forest’s Scotty Washington (6-5, 225) and Sage Surratt (6-3, 215). Both big-bodied receivers are off to hot starts this season, with Washington piling up 204 yards and three touchdowns on 11 catches and Surratt going for 203 yards and two touchdowns on 13 catches.

At 6-2, Rene would have been a more favorable matchup in terms of height, but the Tar Heels are resigned to losing the size battle.

“We’ve got Trey Morrison hanging from his closet every night hoping he gets a little bit taller,” Bateman said, laughing.

At 6-4, Beau Corrales has helped the Carolina corners get used to guarding big, physical receivers and the formula is the same for defending Corrales or the 5-9 Corey Bell in practice: trust your technique, stay square at the line, get your hands on him and disrupt their route.

All of which, Rene had a role in driving home for Ross.

“I saw him develop as a true freshman playing, so I talked to him every day after the game, we talked about the game,” Ross said. “Just taking tips from him on how he developed as a great player, playing the ball. He’s a bigger corner so me just taking tips from him and learning every day and practicing every day has helped me out tremendously.”

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