CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — As North Carolina opened preseason training camp, offensive line coach Randy Clements was in a hospital bed rather than on the football field after a health scare sent him to the emergency room.
Clements, who turns 58 in September, said he had been suffering from a gastrointestinal infection over the summer that worsened and spread to other parts of his body. On July 28, when UNC players gathered for training camp, Clements said he came down with a fever, chills and nausea, which led to his hospitalization at UNC Hospital.
“I ended up with something called sepsis, where the infection got in my blood and spread to different parts of my body,” Clements said Monday after the Tar Heels’ practice. “It was pretty serious. I had to go to the emergency room and they diagnosed it pretty quickly.”
“The hospital is a place where you can calm down because no matter how sick you are, there are people there who are a lot worse off than you. So I’m grateful to everyone at UNC (Hospital) for helping me get back on the field.”
Sepsis is the body’s inappropriate response to infection, leading to organ failure, tissue damage and, in extreme cases, death.
Clements was hospitalized for eight days and missed the Tar Heels’ first six preseason practices. He said his blood pressure had dropped to 80/40 and his heart rate had increased to 160 beats per minute and he “just wasn’t feeling right.” He said the infection was drug-resistant, so doctors had to find the right antibiotic. He now takes daily antibiotics, and his wife, Polly, accompanies him to UNC practices to keep him hydrated.
Randy Clements is in his second year on the coaching staff at the University of North Carolina. (Photo: Jim Hawkins/Inside Carolina)
While he was hospitalized, Clements tried to stay in touch and involved in his duties as offensive line coach, watching video of Carolina practices and attending meetings on Zoom.
“He’s a tough guy, so he didn’t want to go to the hospital, and he had a stomach ailment. It was very scary and dangerous, and he was in the hospital for a week,” North Carolina coach Mack Brown said Sunday. “He’s a tough, stubborn guy, and he was interacting with us on Zoom during practice, he was texting me, saying, ‘What’s going on?’ And I said, ‘Randy, I’ve got better things to do than text you, ‘What’s going on? Watch the video.’ But he’s back, and he’s acting like he’s not sick. He’s here every day. He’s in every meeting. My wife watches him every day, making sure he’s doing what he needs to do. But he’s tough, and the kids really responded.”
In Clement’s absence, University of North Carolina football staffers Kyle Fuller and Corey Gaynor have taken on larger roles to lead the offensive line during training camp practices. Fuller, a former NFL offensive lineman, played under Clement at Baylor, while Gaynor just served as Carolina’s starting center and offensive line leader the past two seasons.
This season, the Tar Heels reshuffled their offensive line, with right guard Willie Lumpkin as the lone returning starter. NC State’s first-team front line this training camp includes center Austin Brask, a University of Georgia transfer, and junior tackles Howard Sampson (from North Texas) and Trevion Green. Freshmen Aidan Banfield, Georgia Tech transfer Jakia Leftwich and Division III transfer Zach Greenberg have been practicing consistently with the second team. Brask, Green and Sampson are likely starters with just 292 combined appearances at the collegiate level.
Clements said the team is talented and athletic but inexperienced, and he’s been forced to make some catch-up with the Tar Heels’ season opener on Aug. 29 at Minnesota.
“Yeah, I’m a little bit panicked,” Clements said Monday. “After missing a week, it feels like you’re always chasing something. But we’re making progress. I think we’re in a good spot right now. We just have to keep moving forward until game day.”
Sampson, a massive 6-foot-8, 325-pounder, said having Fuller and Gaynor leading practices has made the adjustment easier, and Clements’ return “has given everybody a lift.” Clements is back in his element as a coach and expressed gratitude for the challenges he’s faced on the road to recovery.
“When you’re sitting in the hospital, it feels like the world is moving without you,” he said. “So I wanted to come back quickly and I’m happy to be back. Like I said before, I’m very grateful to the people who helped me get to this point, but there’s no guarantee when I’ll be able to come back. So you have to live like that, prepare like that and make sure nothing goes to waste.”
