Tag: Tylee Craft

North Carolina, Mack Brown announce passing of Tylee Craft

Our condolences are with the family of North Carolina football player Tylee Craft.

North Carolina football players were playing with heavy hearts on Saturday afternoon. With former wide receiver Tylee Craft hospitalized battling stage four cancer, the program held its Cancer Awareness Day on Saturday.

But shortly after the game, the program and head coach Mack Brown announced that Craft had passed away on Saturday morning at the age of 23-years-old.

The former four-star receiver enrolled at UNC in 2020 and appeared in 11 games for the program. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in March of 2022. The cancer reached stage four and spread through his body.

Still, he was with the team as much as he could be and was even honored by the program. Craft’s battle with cancer galvanized and inspired his teammates as he was around the program a lot despite his condition.

On Saturday, his teammate J.J. Jones wore Craft’s number and scored a touchdown in the Tar Heels’ loss. He pointed to his jersey to honor Craft after the score.

Craft’s family was also recognized after the first quarter on the field, hugging what was an emotional Mack Brown.

Members of the North Carolina basketball program wore Craft shirts ahead of the Blue-White scrimmage scheduled for Saturday afternoon in the Dean Dome.

His legacy will live on at North Carolina and today is somber reminder that there are things in life bigger than football. We will keep Craft’s family, friends and teammates in our prayers.

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JJ Jones honoring teammate by wearing his jersey during UNC-Georgia Tech football game

UNC’s top receiver, J.J. Jones, is honoring sick teammate Tylee Craft in one of the best ways possible.

The North Carolina Tar Heels will look to turn their football season around today against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech (4-2, 2-2) is a team that historically gives UNC (3-3, 0-2 ACC) trouble, winning five of the last six matchups. To make matters worse, North Carolina hasn’t beaten the Yellow Jackets in Kenan Stadium since 2016, when Mitch Trubisky was the starting quarterback in Chapel Hill.

Regardless of how today’s game in Kenan goes, the Tar Heels will be playing for something more.

UNC has dubbed its Week 7 clash its Cancer Awareness game, as it honors wide receiver Tylee Craft, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2022 and is currently in the hospital fighting.

One North Carolina player is taking it a step further to honor Tylee, as number one wide receiver J.J. Jones will be wearing Craft’s jersey during the game.

Jones only has one touchdown on the season, but he has a Tar Heels-best 300 receiving yards.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBBwVakPf3F/

UNC players and coaches previously wore shirts to honor Tylee during their Bell Tower Walk this morning.

Tylee originally came to Chapel Hill as the Class of 2020’s’ seventh-ranked player in South Carolina. Tylee was able to suit up for North Carolina before his unfortunate cancer diagnosis, playing 11 games between the 2020 and 2021 seasons, at wide receiver and on special teams.

Craft was originally supposed to be at the Pitt game last weekend, but he found himself back in the hospital.

The Tar Heels are trying to beat Georgia Tech today, but they’ll be doing so with something much greater on their minds.

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