Pinecrest’s Macrae staying in state to become a Tar Heel
SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. (BVM) — If you Google the name Gibson Macrae, you won’t find a whole lot. You’ll come across a 247 Sports recruiting page without a national ranking and just a two-star rating in the state of North Carolina. But that’s why you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. It does not tell the true story of the University of North Carolina linebacker commit.
While he does lack typical Division I linebacker size at just 5-foot-11, 225 pounds, that doesn’t take into account the way he plays the game. It doesn’t show anything for his intense passion to be the best version of himself. It doesn’t calculate his character and leadership. Or the fact that he was his conference’s defensive player of the year.
“They (UNC) are going to be getting a guy that has an extremely hard work ethic coming from a program where Coach Metzger preaches ‘champion in the game of life,’” Macrae said. “I’ll work hard on and off the field, be a leader in the locker room and a guy who holds everyone accountable.”
The future Tar Heel has taken those teachings to heart, striving to be on top of everything he does. His high school head coach, Chris Metzger, said Macrae spent all of the COVID shutdown dedicating himself to putting on weight and speed, and as a result, his junior and senior year tapes are light-years apart.
Between his love for the game and drive to continue growing, Metzger knew Macrae had what it takes to play at the peak of the next level: Power 5 football. Luckily for the standout linebacker, Metzger has been friends with UNC defensive coordinator Jay Bateman for many years, and that’s how the two parties got in touch.
“I’ve known Coach Bateman for a long, long time…he had recruited some of our players when he was at Elon, West Point, so we had developed a brotherhood; coaching is a fraternity,” Metzger said. “It was a process, but we are so happy for Gibson to be a part of that family. Coach Brown is assembling a great staff, everything is a family atmosphere and that’s how we try to run our program here, based on family, being servant leaders and that’s the same message they are living by at UNC.”
The fit was found to be perfect, as Macrae is noted as always putting others first. But he uses that as an outlet to improve himself. Metzger spoke on how invaluable his senior leader truly was.
“His desire, whether it was in film, weights, track, on the practice field, game field or classroom. Having that relentless passion to be great and do so on a very ‘others before self’ mentality,” Metzger said. “The way he led our guys during COVID, during our zoom meetings and when we got on the field, it was impressive and it inspired other guys. Lots of people say they are motivated by something, well motivation is like lotion, it rubs off. Inspiration lasts for a lifetime and that’s the kind of thing that Gibson brought to the table.”
It’s those values that truly propel Macrae above the competition. You can train speed, size and how to make a strong tackle (although Macrae already delivers some crushing blows), but you can’t teach what’s within. Some guys want it, and others just don’t.
“I’m a competitor, I love competition and I hate losing,” Macrae said. “I love working hard enough to where I’m on top, work harder than everyone else so that I’m on top.”
While that could be his most valuable aspect to the Tar Heels, his football skill is the cherry on top. This past season, Macrae registered 95 tackles, four of them for loss as well as one safety. The Patriots finished 6-3 on the season, losing in the second round of the playoffs.
As previously mentioned, sometimes what you see doesn’t tell the whole tale.
“His physicality, he’s incredible for his size, the way he runs through people when he tackles and plays with great leverage,” Metzger said. “He’s going to be the kind of guy coming out of the gate that, if I have to be on the scout team, I’m going to be the best scout team guy I can be and have a great attitude about it because that gets him one step closer to being on that field.”
Gibson’s move-in day is on June 2 and UNC’s spring workouts have already begun, so it’ll be back to the grind per usual for Macrae, something he’s more than OK with.
