Charlotte 49ers seniors reflect on careers as final home football game nears
The Charlotte 49ers wrap up the home portion of their football season Saturday with a Conference USA game against Florida International.
It’s also the final game in Richardson Stadium for the 49ers’ 17 seniors.
“It’s just weird because it’s finally here,” said senior receiver Workpeh Kofa, who came to the 49ers from Independence High. “You really never look at how fast it comes or how long it’s going to take. I can remember thinking my freshman year, ‘I got three more years after this.’ Then the next year, I said I got two. And after my junior year, I’m basically a senior. It comes quickly.”
The 49ers (4-6, 3-3 C-USA) have 17 seniors - most of whom redshirted as freshmen - who were recruited to Charlotte when the program was still in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision.
Eight of them are starters this season. A few, such as offensive lineman Nate Davis and linebacker Juwan Foggie - have developed into all-conference caliber players. The others have become solid contributors to a team that took a sizeable step forward this season after going 1-11 in 2017.
“When we first got here, it was just us trying to establish a foundation,” said senior defensive tackle Tyler Fain, who has 3.0 sacks this season. “(We were) trying to get that jersey elevated and let everyone know that Charlotte is here to stay and to go from now playing teams like Tennessee, Kansas State and App State.”
Like Kofa, it’s gone quickly for Fain. He remembered the first team meeting of the summer before his freshman season.
“Sitting there in Hawthorne (Hall), thinking, I’m six weeks away from camp, blowing my top off and didn’t know what was coming,” said Fain, who is majoring in geography and expects to graduate in December. “Now year after year, I’ve got four more camps left, three more camps left, and I’m like holy crap, I’m riding the bus for four years and they’re about to take me to the middle of nowhere and drop me off and say good luck.
“It came really quick. And to that point, you’ve got to man up and figure out if that’s what you want to do.”
Kofa, who expects to graduate in December with a double major in Africana Studies and Sociology, will finish his career among the 49ers leaders in most receiving categories. As each season has passed, he’s noticed an improvement in the quality of player the 49ers have signed. This season, for instance, Kofa (27 catches for 284 yards) has taken a back seat to redshirt freshman Victor Tucker, who leads the team with 47 catches for 570 yards and two touchdowns.
Another freshman, Rico Arnold (21 catches, 291 yards and a touchdowns), has also probably taken away snaps from Kofa and Mark Quattlebaum, the other starting senior receiver.
“Each class has gotten better since I was recruited,” Kofa said. “When my class came, we thought we were really good, like the best class. Then the next class came and they had really good players. Then the next class came, and even this past year’s class, we’ve got some freshmen that can really play out there like Victor Tucker.
“Just seeing the players and the type of development that has changed and the mindset that has changed from looking to compete to actually going to compete and showing that you can play in this league.”
When it’s over - after today’s game against FIU (7-3, 5-1) and next week’s season finale at Florida Atlantic (or possibly, a bowl if the 49ers win these final two games), Kofa and Fain can look back at how they helped shaped a young program that played its first season in 2013.
“I just remembered Workpeh is out there on the field by himself a lot, maybe with one other guy,” said 49ers coach Brad Lambert. “You have different stories with each guy, and all of the work they have put in and how much they have persevered. You want great things for them this Saturday.”