A FEW DAYS after North Carolina wrapped its common season, Chazz Surratt opted out of the Tar Heels’ bowl sport and headed to Florida to coach for the 2021 NFL draft alongside his brother Sage Surratt, who’d already been dwelling there. Each had been on the precipice of fulfilling a dream. Chazz, 24, is among the many top-ranked linebackers out there and prone to be chosen within the first few rounds. Sage, an enormous, bodily 23-year-old receiver with good fingers, has been pegged as a mid-to-late-round choice.
Coaching collectively was becoming. That is how they’d grown up in Lincolnton, North Carolina, tethered by age and ambition, on ballfields or basketball courts, even heading to nationwide chess tournaments collectively.
It had been years because the boys had been dwelling below the identical roof, with Chazz at UNC and Sage at Wake Forest, however the pair shortly fell again into acquainted habits.
Chazz: “He is nonetheless messy.”
Sage, shaking his head: “Wow. Actually? We’re doing this?”
Chazz has at all times relished the function of dutiful caretaker. Sage grew up in his older brother’s shadow, although he discovered methods to face out.
On their highschool basketball workforce, Chazz was the dependable level guard. Sage was the scoring machine. In soccer, Chazz was the star QB, throwing bombs to Sage downfield. Their mother, Brandi, remembers giving each boys an allowance as children, however Chazz at all times felt compelled to pay for his youthful sibling. Earlier than Sage left for school, he handed his mom greater than $1,100 to deposit on the financial institution.
“The place’d this come from?” Brandi Surratt requested.
Seems, Sage had been socking away his allowance because the sixth grade as a result of his brother was footing all of the payments.
The Surratts have at all times been extremely shut and immensely aggressive, however via twists and turns of their careers, they’ve at all times relied on one another to seek out their manner. In Florida, they had been reunited as soon as extra, although lastly on equal footing — each waiting for the subsequent chapter.
“There was a second down in Florida the place it was similar to, we’re actually coaching for the draft collectively, about to get drafted,” Chazz stated. “There’s so many issues that may take you away from that path, however we each made it right here. It is surreal.”
TALL WITH WIDE SHOULDERS and fast toes, Chazz Surratt may have performed just about anyplace on a soccer area. In truth, as a freshman in highschool, he virtually did, lining up at six completely different positions through the season and ending one sport with 4 touchdowns — two receiving, one speeding and one other on a pick-six. However Chazz needed to play quarterback. That was the dream.
He was good, too. Chazz earned Parade All-America honors and was a nationwide participant of the 12 months as a senior, setting the state document for whole yards and touchdowns in his prep profession. At UNC, he was groomed because the inheritor obvious to Mitchell Trubisky, who’d been chosen No. Three total in 2017. Surratt figured he’d comply with an identical path.
“I needed to be three [years] and carried out, and be an NFL quarterback,” Surratt stated. “That was my outdated dream.”
The outdated dream started to wither quickly after Surratt obtained his first shot on the beginning job. UNC opened 2017 with 5 losses in six video games with Surratt unsteady on the helm, and after a dismal efficiency towards Notre Dame during which he accomplished simply 19 of 42 passes, he was benched. He performed in only one sport in 2018, throwing 10 passes in a loss to Miami and in addition struggling a season-ending wrist damage. UNC slumped to a 2-9 end, and head coach Larry Fedora, who had recruited Surratt, was fired.
As his wrist healed, Chazz started reconsidering his future. Mack Brown would herald a brand new teaching employees and a brand new offensive scheme. Surratt nonetheless dreamed of the NFL, however he questioned if quarterback was a viable path. Linebacker was UNC’s greatest want. He picked up the telephone and known as his dad.
“I am fascinated about transferring to linebacker,” he stated.
Kevin Surratt did not blink. After all Chazz may play linebacker — his father believes it is probably the most pure spot for his physique kind and ability set.
Chazz’s subsequent name was to his youthful brother.
In highschool, their roles had been well-defined. Coach Mike Byus remembers working with the pair on passing drills at some point after apply. Chazz threw a laser. Sage hauled within the catch, then tossed the ball again to Byus. The coach handed it again to Chazz, and the entire scene repeated itself. Ultimately, Byus interrupted the proceedings with an concept to chop out the intermediary.
“Sage,” Byus stated, “why do not you simply throw it again to Chazz?”
Sage grinned as he jogged again to the road.
“No, Coach,” he stated. “Chazz throws ’em, and I catch ’em. That is the way it works.”
When Chazz stated he wasn’t positive he needed to be the man throwing the passes anymore, Sage understood. They’d had a dream — two brothers, one a QB and one a receiver, enjoying within the NFL — however their on-field roles had by no means been the half that actually mattered.
“It’s going to be good,” Sage informed his brother.
A couple of days later, Chazz walked into the workplace of linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen, hoping to promote the employees on his determination.
“It is about time,” Thigpen stated. “I have been ready so that you can come over right here.”
Thigpen joked that the transfer would make the previous QB some huge cash within the NFL. It is precisely what Chazz wanted to listen to.
After the assembly, Chazz known as residence and spoke to his mother. When she hung up, Brandi turned to Kevin practically in tears.
“That is the happiest Chazz has sounded in three years,” she stated.
Nonetheless, the swap wasn’t straightforward. Chazz Surratt, at 6-foot-2, 225 kilos, might have seemed the half athletically, however the place was completely new. He spent the offseason studying the ropes, and since UNC was so skinny at linebacker, Thigpen had few choices past giving Chazz all of the reps he may deal with. When the 2019 season opened towards South Carolina, Surratt was the beginning center linebacker.
On the Gamecocks’ second drive, tailback Tavien Feaster took the handoff, hit the outlet and located Surratt out of place. Feaster delivered the blow, broke the deal with try and sprinted 34 yards for a landing. Chazz seemed like a QB enjoying protection.
“He missed a pair tackles that had been massive, massive misses,” defensive coordinator Jay Bateman stated. “However by the tip of that sport, he was making them.”
He completed with 12 tackles and a sack as UNC pulled a surprising upset over an SEC opponent.
A month later, Surratt was arguably the most effective participant on the sphere because the upstart Tar Heels totally pissed off Trevor Lawrence and top-ranked Clemson. Surratt completed the sport with seven tackles (two for a loss), three QB hurries and two move breakups. Solely a missed 2-point try on the finish of the sport prevented UNC from getting a win.
By the tip of the season, Surratt had posted six video games with double-digit tackles en path to All-ACC honors. In 2020, he was one of many league’s prime defenders, main the Tar Heels with 91 tackles.
“I feel it is the most effective story of the 12 months,” Brown stated. “The issues he discovered as a quarterback actually helped him when he was studying the performs on protection. And he is simply obtained a really feel.
“He’ll be one of many higher linebackers on the market within the draft, however his upside is unbelievable as a result of he is solely performed two years. There is not any telling how good he might be.”
IF SAGE WERE an inch or two taller, Chazz Surratt stated, he may be coaching for the NBA draft proper now, not the NFL’s.
At 6-foot-Three, Sage may drive to the rim and confirmed a nifty outdoors shot on their highschool workforce, however the place he actually excelled was together with his midrange jumpers, coach Neil Hodges stated.
“He simply had a candy 15- or 17-foot bounce shot,” Hodges stated.
Hodges liked the brothers’ confidence. They’d “chutzpah,” he stated, joking that Chazz and Sage each thought they had been higher shooters than Stephen Curry. Throughout gymnasium class, they’d faucet a number of teammates to function judges for his or her dunk contests. And when a sport was on the road, they needed the ball of their fingers.
Sage nonetheless ranks second in North Carolina state historical past in scoring with practically Three,000 factors. Wake Forest soccer coach Dave Clawson watched Sage play hoops in highschool and joked that an ideal stat line was 58 factors and no assists. Passing the ball was Chazz’s job.
“He at all times talks about what number of assists he had,” Sage stated. “And I inform him, ‘It is simple to get assists once you’re simply throwing the ball in for me to attain.'”
Even Chazz admits there was a transparent distinction in expertise between the 2.
“He may play capturing guard within the NBA,” Chazz stated. “Me, I am a soccer participant, however Sage was that good.”
That is what Clawson thought, too. He’d hoped to recruit Sage to Wake Forest, however the child’s basketball expertise was so extraordinary that he assumed it was an extended shot. Harvard supplied Sage an opportunity to play each sports activities, and even when he ultimately settled on soccer, Clawson figured Sage would comply with his brother to UNC.
Sage eyed the Harvard provide, however a few month earlier than signing day, he known as Clawson.
“I am rethinking my plans,” he informed Clawson. “Would you guys nonetheless have curiosity?”
That fall, together with his brother off in school, Sage lastly obtained an opportunity to play soccer on his personal phrases, a season during which he was simply Sage reasonably than “Chazz’s youthful brother.”
In his first collegiate motion in 2018, Sage caught 11 passes for 150 yards in a win over Tulane. He completed his redshirt freshman 12 months with 41 grabs and practically 600 yards receiving, each second finest on the workforce.
A 12 months later, Sage blossomed into one of many nation’s most prolific pass-catchers. On a 14-yard seize within the fourth quarter towards Virginia Tech, Sage crossed the 1,000-yard mark for the season with 4 video games left to play. After the catch, although, Sage was hit on the shoulder by a Hokies defender. The damage required surgical procedure. His season was carried out, and after the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to close down the 2020 school soccer season, it turned out that so was his school profession.
In mid-August, Sage informed Clawson he was opting out of the season. On the time, it seemed uncertain the ACC would play soccer after the Pac-12 and Massive Ten shut down (they’d return to motion months later). Whereas his brother was nonetheless constructing his résumé at linebacker, Sage hoped he’d already proven sufficient on movie to impress NFL scouts.
Sage had obtained constructive opinions from NFL analysts, although he wasn’t considered as a first-rounder. Dozens of different gamers had opted out, some far much less safe of their skilled inventory than he was. And a lot was unknown concerning the virus, his father stated. However sitting out nonetheless felt completely antithetical to the best way Sage approaches sports activities.
“That was a tricky time,” Brandi Surratt stated. “It was a extremely exhausting factor for our household. We misplaced sleep over it.”
Sage moved to Florida full time to coach for the draft however nonetheless took on-line lessons to earn his diploma and made the dean’s checklist. Nonetheless, he was away from each household and teammates for the primary time in his life.
“I feel lots of people had this concept that Sage was out having enjoyable as a result of he was in Florida,” Brandi stated. “It wasn’t a enjoyable time. He was alone from just about September to December.”
What Sage did have, nonetheless, was a brother nonetheless enjoying school soccer, and Chazz’s 2020 season proved a needed diversion.
“I watched Wake video games and I watched Chazz’s video games,” Sage stated. “It was powerful not being on the market on Saturdays, however I would discuss to Chazz all through the week, and it is nice simply to have somebody like that in your facet.”
THERE IS A SLIM CHANCE that Chazz and Sage will land on the identical NFL roster. They’ve thought of it. The previous three months getting ready for the draft collectively have been a nice reminder of how a lot enjoyable it was to share a dream and a roof.
“I would just inform folks,” Kevin Surratt stated, “they did not lose many video games once they had been on the identical workforce.”
The Surratt mother and father positive would not thoughts if it occurred once more. Maneuvering via overlapping school careers was no straightforward activity.
In 2019, Kevin was in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, as Sage and Wake Forest performed Boston College, whereas Brandi was watching Chazz and the Tar Heels practically pull the upset over Clemson, texting updates each couple of minutes. When UNC drove for a possible game-winning TD late within the fourth quarter, a flurry of texts zoomed from Chapel Hill to New England debating the deserves of going for 2.
If there was a respite, it got here in 2019 when UNC and Wake confronted off, pitting the brothers towards one another for the primary time of their lives. Each ended up having massive video games. Sage completed with 9 catches for 169 yards and a landing in a 24-18 Wake win. Chazz had eight tackles, together with one for a loss, serving to the Heels’ protection to a near-flawless second half. And the brothers even obtained their one-on-one battle, as Chazz made a deal with after certainly one of Sage’s catches alongside the sideline.
“He tried to get me with an affordable shot,” Sage stated. “I needed to discuss to him about that.”
Nonetheless, the chances are towards them touchdown with the identical NFL workforce, which implies that these three months in Florida are prone to be the final time the Surratt brothers share dwelling quarters. That is OK, Sage stated.
They have not at all times been on the identical sideline, however they’ve at all times been on the journey collectively.
“Whoever goes first, we’re not going to be completely happy till each our names have been known as,” Chazz stated. “We’re nonetheless going to be sitting on pins and needles.”