Kaimon Rucker: ‘You cannot let a loss define you’
As West Virginia was celebrating with Mayonnaise, UNC felt sorrow not only because they lost 30-10 in the bowl game, but also because it would be the last time some players wear their Carolina blue threads.
One player who felt the emotions from the result was defensive leader Kaimon Rucker, whose watery eyes painted the picture when meeting with the media. Rucker recently announced his decision to return to Chapel Hill for his fifth season, opting into the bowl game with hopes of sending seniors without eligibility left with a win.
The perfect send-off didn’t happen. Instead, the wheels fell off early as UNC attempted to maneuver around their own mistakes. Following the loss, Rucker met with media outside UNC’s locker room, giving his takeaway from the 30-10 loss.
“I think it’s just one of those situations where the better team won. I’m not discrediting anything that we’ve done. Our defense, I feel like we had a great game plan for it. We had to keep count for the quarterback and running back because they are very dynamic players. They had to make adjustments and that’s exactly what they did. West Virginia has a great team. I don’t feel like there was anything that we did wrong per se, I just feel like they made adjustments just like any other team.”
Rucker took time while speaking with media to express his love for many of the players who won’t be returning, bringing an eye-opening experience of how much the game meant outside of the final score. Rucker expressed how he would process this game and use it for next season.
“You know, it’s just one of those situations where you just need to move on. It hurts. It does. I could probably honestly say that the boys in the locker room are the people I’m going to miss the most. You cannot let a loss define you and control your attitude from here on out. I just have to put it behind me and get back to work.”
Rucker’s leadership oozed through as he expressed how he was ready to get back to Chapel Hill to revamp the mindset while understanding his teammates need time to process the loss before getting things back on track for next season.
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