Mack Brown shares how North Carolina told players of Tylee Craft's death

On Saturday, North Carolina wide receiver Tylee Craft died after an extensive battle with cancer. Following North Carolina’s 41-34 loss to Georgia Tech, Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown revealed how he informed his team of the heartbreaking news.

“We were discussing this morning on the way in — if he passes before we get to the stadium, do you bring him up and tell them? With social media now, it’s going to leak,” Brown said. “We said no, and that’s when I took my phone away, and they stayed away from me. And I don’t know what time it was, but none of the players knew it.

“Usually, when they walk in the building, they put their phones up. So we felt like we had a chance if we got to the game, then if he did pass, that there would be a chance that they wouldn’t know it till afterwards.”

North Carolina played the entire game without knowing Craft had died. Craft joined North Carolina in 2020, making 11 appearances in his first two seasons with the team. However, Craft was forced to step away from the field when he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer on March 14, 2022.

North Carolina first learned of the cancer when its staff took Craft to the hospital after he reported severe back pain. Tylee Craft reportedly was only expected to live for several more weeks after the diagnosis. Instead, he fought valiantly for two and a half years.

Brown is taking every step necessary to ensure his players receive help during these difficult times.

“All of our mental health people told us that you need to tell them in a group, if possible,” Brown said. “So we didn’t need to let them leave and then us try to call them individually or texting or Teamworks — it’s really cold. We felt like as difficult as it was in that setting, right after that game, that it was our duty to make sure that we told them all there.

“We’ve got people that can be visiting with them in the locker room now to help the ones that are really struggling. When I’ve had loss, I usually withdraw and get quiet and get by myself and think. So everybody handles it differently.

“Some are gonna laugh and talk about how cool he was and how much fun he had. We’ll have to deal with that with the players, too. Some of the young ones probably didn’t know him very well, especially the ones on the other side of the ball because he wasn’t around them as much as he got sick here since fall started.”