2024 At First Glance: Week Four Charlotte 49ers
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Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Written by: Evan Alvarez
Hoosier Huddle’s deep dive into IU Football’s 2024 opponents continues as we preview Indiana’s week four game against the Charlotte 49ers. It is the first matchup between the two schools on the gridiron.
Week Four: Charlotte 49ers
Date & Time: Saturday, September 21st at TBA
Venue: Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, IN
TV: TBD
49ers at a Glance
Head Coach: Biff Poggi
Record at Charlotte: 3-9
Overall Record: 3-9 Entering Second Season as Head Coach
Last Season: 3-9 (2-6 in AAC)
49ers Returning Leaders
Passing: Trexler Ivey – 112-of-203 (55.2%), 1,263 Yards 4 Touchdowns 10 Interceptions
Rushing: Terron Kellman – 328 Yards on 82 Carries for 1 Touchdown
Receiving: Jairus Mack – 25 Catches for 453 Yards and 2 Touchdowns
Tackles: Nikhai Hill-Green (LB) 73 Tackles (48 solo), 0 Interception, 1 Forced Fumble
49ers Preseason Predictions
Athlon: 13th in the American Conference
Lindy’s: 12th in the American Conference
Phil Steele: T-12th in the American Conference
SP+: 127th Nationally
Impact Newcomers for the 49ers
Max Brown, QB, Transfer from Florida
CJ Stokes, RB, Transfer from Michigan
Chantz Williams, Edge, Transfer from Miami
Biggest Questions Facing the 49ers
Will a strong transfer class with talent from huge programs push the 49ers forward?
Can Max Brown ignite the offense and take the 49ers to a bowl?
How will Biff Poggi, in year 2, continue to leave his mark on the program?
Program Preview
Charlotte is extremely interesting as they’ve only been playing football (in the “modern era”) for about 11 years. They were an independent team from 1946 to 1948 and then had no football team for over 60 years until the 2013 season, where they were again independent (this time in the FCS). Charlotte then joined Conference USA in 2015 and recently joined the American Athletic Conference in 2023 after a near decade stint in CUSA.
In the short time Charlotte’s football team has been around, they’ve had success all things considered. They’ve made a bowl - 2019’s Bahamas Bowl - and have five total NFL draft picks including three 3rd round picks. Some notable players include Larry Ogunjobi, Nate Davis, and Alex Highsmith.
Charlotte enters year two in the American Athletic Conference while also entering year two with Biff Poggi. Poggi comes from the University of Michigan, where he served as an Off-Field Analyst and Associate Head Coach under Jim Harbaugh. Biff comes with a strong pedigree being from Harbaugh’s coaching tree and likely expects to take the 49ers to new heights in 2024 and beyond.
Offensive Preview
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
According to gameonpaper.com, which examines teams analytically across a variety of metrics, the Charlotte 49ers ranked among the worst offenses in the country in 2023. Looking at a few stats that stand out, the 49ers ranked 126th (out of 134 D1 football schools) in Expected Points Added (EPA) per passing play and 110th in EPA per running play. These stats serve as a pretty good gauge for any other stats you look at for this offense, as the vast majority of metrics are near the bottom in the entire country.
Naturally, last year’s performance means that things were ripe for change. Fortunately, in today’s transfer and NIL market, Coach Poggi was able to do just that, bringing in a top 70 transfer class in the country. Clearly a main target for Coach Poggi and crew were talented recruits at big time schools who were looking for playing time. Everywhere you look on their transfer log, players that fit this mold come up.
The headline of the class, the projected starting QB for the 49ers, is Max Brown from the University of Florida. Max was a top 50 QB in the transfer portal and is entering his redshirt sophomore season. If things go well for everyone involved, Brown could easily become the 49ers quarterback of the present and future and take Charlotte to their best seasons in school history.
Around Brown, the 49ers weren’t playing around either. From the portal, Charlotte acquired offensive linemen (all ranked as 3 star transfer targets) from the following schools: Tennessee, Texas A&M, Clemson, Florida, Georgia Tech, and UMass. That’s potentially a full starting lineup of offensive linemen from powerhouse football schools! Clearly, Charlotte was on a mission here.
Among skill position players, CJ Stokes comes from Michigan and will likely look to win the starting running back job as a 3 star transfer, while the wide receiver position boasts three 3 star transfers from strong programs like Middle Tennessee State, East Carolina, and Tulane along with a strong returning core.
If there’s any method to turn things around from being one of the worst offenses in the country in just one year’s time, Biff Poggi has done just that. Now it needs to come together on the field.
Defensive Preview
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Flipping the page from offense to defense is a much different story throughout the 2023 season. Referencing gameonpaper.com again, Charlotte’s defense was roughly top 50 in the country across a variety of metrics. The 49ers ranked 49th (as one would expect) in EPA per pass play and 52nd in EPA per running play. Remember, these are out of 134 D1 football schools. These strong metrics are extremely unexpected. Usually when a football team has a poor offense, the defense suffers as well since they’re always on the field. This was not the case for the 49ers defense, as they consistently put up strong performances. Against Florida, for example, they only allowed 22 points; against Navy, 14; East Carolina, 7. If there is any positive to take from a 3-9 season, it would be this defense.
To beef up the defense even more (and hopefully improve upon these metrics with the offense improving as well, taking up more time of possession and giving defenders more rest), Coach Poggi employed a very similar strategy in the transfer portal on defense as he did on offense - bring in talented players from huge programs who want more playing time.
Charlotte brought in 3-star transfers from the following schools: Georgia Tech, Auburn, Colorado, Virginia Tech, Miami, Louisville, Michigan State, South Carolina, Boston College, Cincinnati, Mizzou, Iowa State, and many others across basically every position there is on defense.
What a haul for Coach Poggi and these 49ers. Whatever Coach Poggi is selling in Charlotte, players are absolutely buying. As they should, I might add! Charlotte is a great city, the campus looks beautiful, playing time is available and abundant, top matchups are everywhere in the new look American Athletic Conference, and I’m sure some NIL dollars are flowing as well. Look for the 49ers to make some waves this year on both sides of the ball, but especially this strong defense as they build off of last year.
Special Teams Preview
Kyle Cunanan kicked the most for the 49ers in 2023, drilling all his extra points and making 9/15 field goals (60%). Charlotte also used Jake Larson as a kicker, though only for nine total opportunities. Cunanan was a true freshman for the 49ers last year and enters his sophomore season with something to prove. He looks to be Charlotte’s starting kicker but will be battling with Hunter Patrick and Bronson Long for that spot. Patrick will be looking for his first career kicks in college but boasts strong experience as a graduate student and Coastal Carolina transfer, while Long enters year two of his tenure with the 49ers, helping on kickoff duty last year.
Looking at punting duties, it appears to be Michael O'Shaughnessy’s job to lose, as he is the only punter listed on Charlotte’s roster. He comes with strong experience as a punter as he was previously at both Michigan State (2023) and Ohio State (2022). According to Charlotte49ers.com, O'Shaughnessy’s was highly recruited out of high school and was rated as one of the best punters in the country.
In the return game, Henry Rutledge likely returns to the starting spot after a successful 2023 season. Rutledge, a running back for the 49ers, returned 20 kicks in 2023 for an average of 23.4 yards along with 12 punts for an average of 11.9 yards and one touchdown. Check out his awesome return against Georgia State last year below.
https://www.espn.co.uk/video/clip/_/id/38416904
2024 FIRST GLANCE PREVIEWS