Charlotte 49ers receivers have a history, but prefer the present

Just a few years ago, wide receivers Austin Duke and Workpeh Kofa were teammates at Independence High, but that’s all they were.

“We weren’t all that close,” Kofa said. “We just bumped heads a lot back then.”

Now that they’re teammates again, with the Charlotte 49ers, the relationship between Duke and Kofa is a lot stronger.

“We’re like brothers now,” said Duke, a redshirt senior. “It comes with growing up and gaining trust.”

That relationship – as well as that among all of Charlotte’s receivers – will be vital as Charlotte (1-4, 0-1) looks to get its first Conference USA win Sunday against Florida Atlantic (1-4, 0-1).

Duke is the 49ers’ leading receiver, just 69 yards shy of 3,000 for his career. Kofa, a redshirt sophomore, broke into the starting lineup this season and has quickly become Charlotte’s No. 3 receiving option.

“You can notice that they’ve played together before,” 49ers receivers coach Joe Tereshinski said. “They’ve got a natural communication amongst themselves.

“To me, it’s one of realism in that they can speak truthfully to each other and tell exactly what they’re seeing. When one needs to be picked up, they can call them out without hard feelings. There’s no walls to break down.”

Not always pals

It wasn’t always that way between Duke and Kofa, who grew up just a few miles apart off Albemarle Road, and played together on the Patriots’ varsity squad during the 2011 season.

Duke, then a senior, was one of the stars of Independence’s team, a Shrine Bowl selection and one of North Carolina’s top receivers.

Kofa was a newcomer to the Patriots’ varsity, cracking the starting lineup as a sophomore after starring on the junior varsity team the year before.

However, Duke knew earlier that Kofa could be something special.

“I’ve known him since he was an eighth-grader,” Duke said. “I watched him play at Albemarle Road Middle.”

Kofa knew who Duke was as well; that didn’t exactly translate into a sense of brotherhood.

“We really didn’t have that much of a relationship,” Kofa said. “We really weren’t close, I didn’t talk to Austin. Sometimes he would try to give me advice, but I wasn’t listening.

“Now that I look back on it, the things he tried to tell me back then, he was right on a lot of things. I just had to grow up . ...was just a dumb kid back then.”

Not so, said Duke.

“He’s not a dumb kid – I don’t know why he said that,” Duke said. “He knows his goals, and he works hard. He knows exactly what he wants. He’s very independent, he grew up having to be very independent, but he’s not dumb. He’s just being modest.”

Growing up

After Duke graduated and signed with Charlotte over offers from N.C. Central and Elon, Kofa blossomed into the Patriots’ star receiver.

That happened, Kofa said, because he decided it was “time to grow up.”

“That was a turning point for me,” Kofa said. “I don’t think I had a good year, even though I started. That’s when I really started to focus in, start taking advice and work harder on my game.”

Kofa finished his Independence career with more than 1,600 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns, a three-star prospect who got offers from Louisville, Appalachian State, Ball State and Toledo.

Instead, he signed with the 49ers, reuniting with Duke. Their relationship, almost nonexistent in high school, was completely different this time around.

“It’s changed a lot, and I take heed in everything he says, unlike before,” Kofa said. “It’s definitely brotherly now; it’s a family now. I was a totally different person back in high school than what I am now.”

Said Duke: “He’s a tough kid, a hard kid, and doesn’t trust a lot of people. So I’ve taken that role of being his big brother. I make sure what I say is sincere, so he knows I have his best interests at heart.

“Just knowing some of his background, coming from the same neighborhood and the same kind of background, I just want to see both of us succeed.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2016 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Charlotte 49ers receivers have a history, but prefer the present."