Carolina’s football team gathered in a meeting room at the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Plantation Hotel Friday night, and head coach Larry Fedora brought out a small metal box decorated with the interlocking NC logo and some argyle stripes. Each player took a slip of paper and wrote the name of someone to whom they would dedicate their performance the next day against the Miami Hurricanes—a parent, a sibling, a high school coach, a best friend.
Caleb Peterson would not play the next day. The fifth-year senior, the starting left guard since 2013 and the spark plug for the offensive line, left the field with an injury in the second half at Tallahassee two weeks ago and hasn’t returned to action since.