9 minute read
Corner of the World
BY LEE PACE
PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI & ANDY MEAD
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Tar Heel cornerback Patrice Rene made a long journey to play a foreign game
This was quite the stage for the 18-year-old who was born in Haiti, grew up in Canada, went to high school in Virginia, had a French name and could speak three languages (English, French and Creole). Here was Patrice-Marc Rene, lined up in his first college football game in man-to-man coverage in the third quarter of a nationally televised game, his North Carolina Tar Heels facing off against Georgia. The Georgia Dome in Atlanta was stuffed to the rafters; millions were watching on television. The opposite cornerback slot for the Tar Heels was manned by Des Lawrence, the senior and two-year starter.
“I had always dreamed of playing big-time football in the States,” Rene says. “And there I was. I’d only seen an atmosphere like that on TV. The speed, the contact, a different level of competition. It was all totally foreign to me.”
Not surprisingly, Bulldog offensive coordinator Jim Chaney and QB Jacob Eason decided to test Rene, who brought physical presence to the Carolina secondary (6-2 height, 4.6 speed) but was a raw neophyte under the lights. On two third-down snaps, Georgia targeted the receiver on Rene’s side. Both times, Rene was in position downfield along the sideline. Both times, he failed to locate the airborne football, made contact with the receiver and was flagged for interference. Georgia scored a touchdown to quell the Tar Heels’ momentum on the way to a 33-24 win.
“I was like, ‘Okay, this is what reality is, this is what it’s really like at this level,’” Rene remembers. “I had to learn from my mistakes. The experience was kind of a wakeup call for me and allowed me to understand where I’m at and the stage that I’m on. I had to learn the speed of the game and playing a different level of competition. I think being able to get my feet wet as a true freshman really helped me a lot in my career.”
Dre Bly, the ex-Tar Heel All-America cornerback and later an NFL Pro Bowl player, was on the sidelines that night in Atlanta. He was seven years removed from the league, living in Charlotte, coaching youth league and high school ball and remained connected with his alma mater through head coach Larry Fedora and his assistants.
“Trice was thrown right into the fire—huge game, season opener, national TV,” Bly says, invoking Rene’s nickname (say, Treece). “I remember noticing he was right there on every play. He was never beat. I knew then he’d have a good career. He was going against the best of the best. It was great coverage. It was just a matter of looking back and finding the ball.”
Reflecting back four years later, Rene catalogues that game as just one of a number of hurdles he’s had to leap throughout his career—indeed, his entire life.
“Coach Fedora always used to say, ‘Adversity is coming. It’s always going to come,’” Rene says. “The only thing that matters is how you’re going to handle it, how you’re going to react to it and how you’re going to respond.”
As a sophomore and junior, Rene was the most reliable link in the secondary as the Carolina defense was woefully bad, giving up an average of 33 points and 440 yards per game in 2017-18.
He’s had a different position coach each year—Charlton Warren in 2016, Terry Joseph in 2017, Henry Baker in 2018 and then Bly when he was hired by new head coach Mack Brown in December 2018.
Rene injured the ACL in his right knee in game two of what was to be his senior year and was lost for the season. He redshirted and preserved the year of eligibility.
And he was hit with an unusual challenge during the Covid-19 pandemic, having to leave the country to join his family in Ottawa when Carolina shut down in March, do makeshift workouts and appeal to the Canadian Embassy to return to Chapel Hill in May so that he could get proper care of his knee and a suitable venue for his rehab.
“He’s been through a lot,” Bly says. “Four corners coaches and an ACL—that’s a lot for anyone to deal with. He’s had no stability. He’s been taught four different techniques. I don’t care who you are, that’s hard. He’s done a good job dealing with that adversity and the change.”
Rene speaks of “attacking” the day and whatever challenge sits before him, of “loving the grind” and that there’s no regimen a doctor or strength coach can give him that’s too strenuous.
“Everything happens for a reason and I just try to look at the brighter side of things,” Rene says. “I just tried to soak up as much knowledge as I could from all the coaches, and I did learn a lot of different things from each of them. I’m grateful for that, so it’s all part of the journey and experience to me.”
Pierre and Marie Rene had five children and named their youngest with a combination of both names, hence “PatriceMarc,” and were living in Haiti when they decided amid political unrest and frequent flooding in the early 2000s to seek another home. They picked up and moved to Ottawa, and there young Patrice became enamored of all sports and particularly football, noting on a football recruiting website at the age of 14, “My dream is to be able to play in the NFL. My goal for now is to work hard to improve my academics so I am able to attend college in the States.” The Renes took Patrice on weekends to various camps and recruiting showcases across the border into New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania so he could develop his skills and broaden his network.
Patrice began working with a coach named Victor Tedondo, who founded Gridiron Academy in Ottawa to help young players develop their skills beyond what they could learn through a high school athletics infrastructure more geared to the Canadian national sport of hockey. Tedondo told the Renes that Patrice would have a better chance of getting a college scholarship if he matriculated to an American high school and used his network to introduce Patrice to the coaching staff at Episcopal High in Alexandria, Va.
“My parents were all for me leaving to chase my dreams and excited for me to make that jump,” Rene says. He moved to Virginia for his final two years of high school and soon drew recruiting interest from coaches across the East, Midwest and MidAtlantic. Rene originally committed to Rutgers, believing that being close to a grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousins in New York City would be convenient. But he changed his plans and recalibrated after Scarlet Knights Coach Kyle Flood and his staff were fired, leaving Ohio State, Wisconsin, Boston College and Carolina atop the mix of options.
And as so frequently happens when someone visits Chapel Hill for the first time, “I fell in love with the campus, I fell in love with the guys and I felt like this was going to be my home and I decided to commit.”
Rene started eight games his first two seasons and every game as a junior and was primed for his senior year until being hurt against Miami. He was halfway through his rebab protocol that was expected to take nine months when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March and he had to return to Ottawa. He had no gym access and city laws restricted the use of public athletic fields. Rene was constantly on Zoom and Facetime calls with strength coach Brian Hess and trainer Luke Ross to keep up his conditioning and knee rehab.
In the midst of it all, an uncle in New York died from the
virus and the family gathered via Zoom for a memorial service.
“It was really hard, we have a big family and are very close,” Rene says. “To not be able to physically be there for my aunt and cousins, that was hard for us.”
Rene was finally allowed back into the United States after an appeal to the Canadian Embassy to leave the country and return to Chapel Hill in May.
“The whole process was very eye opening,” Rene says. “I had to dig deep down and realize how much I love the game of football. My love for the game is even stronger after what I’ve been through. It’s been a tough process. But hard work was instilled in me at a young age. I’ve accepted everything that’s happened and just attack the process. I found a deeper love for game of football. You cannot control what happens. You can control your attitude.”
Bly kept an eye on Rene during the 2016-18 seasons and relished the opportunity to coach him when he was hired. Both coach and player are intent on building on the solid defensive debut under coordinator Jay Bateman in 2019 and re-establishing the defensive tradition at Carolina that sagged during the Fedora-engineered offensive era from 2012-18.
“Once I got the gig, I knew the one thing I would instill in my guys would be to try to teach them to be confident and not be afraid to make a mistake,” Bly says. “Going back to his freshman year, Trice was great in coverage, he was just afraid to make a mistake, to make a play, which led to him getting beat.”
“I think it’s time for the defense to step up to the plate and showcase to the world what we’re able to do,” Rene says. “I think we have a lot of guys with great talent and a great coach at the forefront, and I think we’re going to accomplish a lot of things. People are going to start to notice that the Carolina football team is not just offense—it’s a team, we’re a really good team in all three phases of the game—offense, defense as well as special teams.”
Rene will graduate this fall with degrees in communications and sociology. His dream of a dozen years has been to play in the NFL, so that’s priority No. 1. Back-ups in the business world include using his passion for fashion and apparel design to explore options in retail clothing, communications and marketing.
As he speaks the third week of September, game two of the 2020 football season has just been cancelled. After a dominating season-opening win over Syracuse, the Tar Heels were set to meet Charlotte in Kenan Stadium on Sept. 19, but the game was cancelled because of Covid-19 testing issues with the 49ers squad.
“The year 2020 has been full of surprises,” Rene says. “You’ve got to expect the unexpected.”
