CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

CCU NFL prospect Gunter left the program to assist family, but his spirit remained

Sun News - 9/2/2021

Sep. 2—CONWAY — As a redshirt junior at N.C. State in 2019 following a transfer from Coastal Carolina, Jeffrey Gunter watched every Chanticleers football game that didn't coincide with a Wolfpack contest.

He and his mother, Jennifer Gunter, watched simultaneously, either together or apart with frequent phone conversations.

"He never said the words, 'Mom I miss them, I want to go back,' but my impressions of us watching together I could tell he missed them. These guys are definitely like his brothers," said Jennifer, who said she considers many of his CCU teammates her extended family. "I'm assuming his gut told him to go back and be with your brothers. Obviously we're all excited and glad that he did."

While Gunter's body transferred from CCU to Raleigh, N.C., following the 2018 season, his soul and spirit remained in Conway, and he returned prior to the 2020 season.

Gunter enters his redshirt senior season at CCU as an NFL prospect at defensive end or outside linebacker for a team that has aspirations of a second consecutive undefeated regular season, and his success is driven by the belief he's back where he belongs.

"This is definitely my family here," Gunter said. "I don't have a very large blood family so my brothers here are like my brothers to me, my actual blood. I just missed everybody. I could have gone [Power] Five, but there's nothing like playing with Tarron Jackson, C.J. Brewer, Jerrod Clark, Silas [Kelly], Teddy [Gallagher], all those boys. Those are really my family, and I just missed them so much I had to come back."

Family calls Gunter home to N.C.

Gunter transferred after being CCU's only First Team All-Sun Belt Conference selection following the 2018 season, when he totaled 49 tackles, including 14 for loss and five sacks. In 24 games in his first two years at CCU he recorded 75 tackles, including 17.5 for loss.

He excelled on and off the field in Conway. He was a member of Team Leadership Council and made the Dean's List (3.5 GPA or higher) in spring 2017 and fall 2018.

But he thought his family in Durham, N.C., needed him to be close to home.

Late in 2018 and early in 2019, Gunter's mother was going through what he termed "a really ugly divorce" after being with her husband for 18 years. They began separating during the season.

"I didn't want to bother him with anything during the season but I think he could sense what was happening," Jennifer said. "We would have some nights where he would call to make sure I was okay and I may have been upset. But you try to hide things from your kids so they don't know exactly what was going on. You don't want your kid to take on what you're feeling, but he was starting to sense what was happening."

Jennifer didn't realize her son was transferring in large part because of her personal situation. She thought it was more about football and an opportunity to play at a Power Five school, and she was selfishly excited because home games and many ACC conference away games would be close to home.

Then she read an article with quotes from him about his concern for her and his siblings. Gunter's sister, Jalah, who is now 18 and a freshman at UNC Charlotte, and brother, Alex, 13, were 15 and 10 at the time of his transfer.

"I didn't want him to come home, but he felt he needed to be here to come help me through things and be the man of everything," Jennifer said. "He's always been very thoughtful. He has such a kind heart and is always worried and concerned about me and the family. I think he worries more than he should for a 22-year-old. I'm so thankful, so proud to have a son like him. I've been absolutely blessed. He's such a good kid. I couldn't have had a better son."

Gunter said he is motivated to reach the NFL in part to buy his mother a house and pay for his siblings' college education.

"I really just want to take care of my mother, buy her a house and everything, and I know I need to step my game up to another level to do that," he said.

Gunter was forced to sit out the 2019 season due to NCAA transfer rules but made an impact in Wolfpack practices, winning co-defensive scout player of the year honors before entering the NCAA transfer portal to return to CCU.

A force on the gridiron

A talented athlete at 6-foot-4 and 260 pounds, Gunter led the nation in forced fumbles last season with six. No other player had more than four.

The First Team All-Sun Belt selection was second on the team to Jackson, a Philadelphia Eagles sixth-round draft pick, with 12 QB hurries and 12.5 tackles for loss, including 6.5 sacks. He had 58 tackles — 35 solo — and added one interception and one pass breakup.

"I hope I coach more like him in my career because he's special," said CCU outside linebackers coach Josh Miller. "He has no ceiling. You tell him to work power moves and he perfects them. You tell him to work finesse moves and he perfects them. He's violent in the run game. He's playing with great effort. He has great leadership. What can you complain about other than you don't have two or three of him?"

Gunter has worked in the offseason to be even more of a force in 2021, and the task will likely be more difficult as the double teams that Jackson endured — CCU's football staff says he faced more than one blocker on more than 60 percent of his snaps last year — are destined for Gunter this season.

"I went absolutely bonkers in the weight room," Gunter said. "I tried to put as much weight on the bar as I could just so if I'm taking on a block or doing something like that I'm going to win every time. And I've just been learning the details of the game. I felt like last year I made a lot of plays but I could have made way more if I just took a little step here, a little step there, so that's really what I focused on."

Jackson was among the most committed and hardest workers in CCU program history, and his influence on Gunter endures.

"Tarron just gave me a great example and I just wanted to do nothing more than carry the torch when he left," Gunter said. "He's been a great motivator for me and just somebody I could always call on. He showed me the way and I'm trying to pass the torch on to the next generation."

Jackson has provided both a blueprint to reach the NFL and added motivation, and Miller attests to Gunter increasing his commitment to step into Jackson's leadership role. His position coach recalls calling Gunter out on his effort level following a game last year.

"I challenged him," Miller said. "I said, 'I'll take Tarron 10 times out of 10 over you, not because your skill sets are different but because he plays so much harder than you right now. His effort is elite and yours needs some work.'

"He didn't like that too much. But Tarron was always there as an example of this is what you're trying to become. Now that Tarron is gone the talk is now you're the alpha. You're the top of the mountain so you have to be self-motivated to reach all those goals."

Miller said Gunter's response "has been amazing. It's been a lot of fun."

Rehabilitating a reputation

Though his mother and all in the CCU program speak glowingly of Gunter's character, they would have a tough time convincing BYU players and fans that he is such a nice guy.

During CCU's nationally-televised ESPN2 game against the Cougars at Brooks Stadium on Dec. 5, Gunter and linebacker Teddy Gallagher teamed up against quarterback Zach Wilson following an interception, twice driving him forcefully to the ground.

Gunter was later flagged for pushing Wilson late out of bounds, and in the Cure Bowl he violently ripped off the helmet of Liberty quarterback Malik Willis by the facemask during a tackle.

Jennifer said she and her son received hateful messages from BYU fans through their social media, including some racial insults.

"There were very derogatory racial things they put in both of our inboxes for about two weeks, and he was really hurt by those things," Jennifer said. "I personally have but he has never had to deal with those type of things and he could not understand why people were so hurtful over a football game. In real life he honestly wouldn't harm a fly. He'd give the shirt off his back to anybody. But at the same time he is, as the announcer said, a man possessed when he's on that field. His goal in life is to be the best defensive end in the country. This is not ballet, this is football."

Gunter, who was only penalized a few times during the 2020 season, admits to being impacted by the criticism and his reputation to some as a dirty player.

"I'm not going to lie, at first it kind of hurt my feelings," Gunter said. "I'm really a nice guy. Like everybody around here knows me, I love to smile, I love to joke, all that. When I go on the field I am a little aggressive but it's a gladiator sport, this isn't a sport for soft people. . . . [A couple plays] were a little out there. I feel I did go a little over the top with the BYU thing and for that I apologized.

"I'm not a dirty player at all though, man. I just play to the whistle."

CCU defensive coordinator Chad Staggs wants the program to help rehabilitate Gunter's reputation on a national stage.

"A lot of people talk about his athletic ability but he's probably even a better person, and I think that's what we want to make sure we kind of tell everyone that he's just as good of a person as he is a player," Staggs said.

Elevating the CCU program

Gunter endured CCU's lean years in its FBS infancy, going 8-16 combined in 2017 and 2018 with an eight-game losing streak his freshman season.

After going 5-7 in Gunter's absence in 2019, the Chants reached the No. 9 ranking in the AP Top 25 Poll last season and begin this year ranked 22nd, and Gunter will play the 2021 season with the eyes of the NFL on him.

"It's a dream come true," said Gunter, who has an economics degree and is pursuing a second degree in communications. "My freshman year we went 3-9 and lost eight games in a row and it was hard, it was tough but everybody stuck through it and it's a complete 180 to see us from 3-9 to where we are now, and I'm just thankful to be apart of it and I'm happy they allowed me to come back."

___

(c)2021 The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)

Visit The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) at www.thesunnews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.