5 story lines to watch for as Charlotte 49ers open preseason football camp Friday

As Charlotte 49ers coach Will Healy puts it: “Ready or not,” preseason practice begins for his team on Friday.

Thanks to uncertainty around the coronavirus, the 49ers still don’t know who their season opener will be against, or when, but training camp is on nonetheless. All that’s known now is that Charlotte will play nonconference games Sept. 26 against Georgia State (at home) and at Duke on Oct. 31.

Their first Conference USA game is scheduled for Oct. 3 at Florida Atlantic. 49ers athletics director Mike Hill is working to replace canceled games against Tennessee and Norfolk State.

The 49ers have 12 starters (five offense, seven defense) from last season’s groundbreaking team that went 7-6 — the first winning season in program history — and played in the Bahamas Bowl for their first postseason appearance.

Here are five things to watch as 49ers camp opens:

1. New coaches

There was significant turnover on the 49ers’ coaching staff during the offseason, starting with the promotion of quarterbacks coach Mark Carney to offensive coordinator. Carney, who was quarterbacks coach at Richmond when Healy played there, replaces Alex Atkins, who’s now the offensive line coach at Florida State.

Lee Grimes takes over as offensive line coach (Atkins handled those responsibilities also), and Carney will continue as quarterbacks coach.

Adam Braithwaite replaces Max Thurmond as linebackers coach. Charles Bankins takes over for Thurmond on special teams, an area where Charlotte was inconsistent last season.

Carney has experience as a coordinator, leading the offenses at Division II Virginia State and D-III Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) before joining Healy at Charlotte in 2019. 49ers quarterback Chris Reynolds flourished under Carney’s direction last season.

Grimes, a former player at Texas A&M, was the Aggies’ offensive analyst the past two seasons. He’s already had an impact on Charlotte’s recruiting, playing a key role in the 49ers landing four-star offensive lineman Ty’Qieast Crawford, who’s from Crawford, Texas.

2. Who replaces the stars?

Ten starters have graduated, and some of those players were especially significant — defensive end Alex Highsmith (Pittsburgh Steelers) and offensive tackle Cam Clark (New York Jets) were taken in the NFL draft, and running back Benny LeMay signed a free agent contract with the Cleveland Browns.

But Healy seems to have plugged those holes with promising freshmen and transfers.

Three of those graduation losses are on the offensive line, where Clark was the mainstay. But Crawford, Penn State transfer Hunter Kelly, junior college transfer Ashton Gist and freshman Arabee Muslim (Mallard Creek High) give Healy options. Center Jaelin Fisher and tackle D’Mitri Emmanuel return.

Running back Tre Harbison, a former Crest High star who had consecutive 1,000-yard seasons at Northern Illinois, transfers in and will compete with Aaron McAllister and possibly freshman Elijah Turner at running back.

And getting not as much attention as Highsmith last season at the other defensive end was Markees Watts, who returns after putting up impressive numbers (9.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss).

3. Reynolds’ team

The Charlotte quarterback job was an open competition during the past two preseasons, with Reynolds, a former walk-on going against Football Bowl Subdivision transfers, winning it both times. This season, there’s little doubt that the 49ers are Reynolds’ team. He was excellent in 2019, throwing a school-record 22 touchdown passes and leading C-USA with a 153.6 pass-efficiency rating. He threw for 2,564 yards and ran for 791 more (scoring six times).

Reynolds has shown up on two prestigious preseason awards watch lists — the Maxwell Trophy (nation’s top player) and Manning Award (top quarterback).

4. Remember them?

Defensive end Tyriq Harris and safety Ben DeLuca were All-Conference-caliber players returning for Charlotte in 2019. But injuries held them back as the 49ers went on to their memorable season without them on the field. Harris never played due to a back injury and eventually had surgery. DeLuca injured his shoulder in the 49ers’ second game against Appalachian State and missed the rest of the season.

They’re healthy now. Harris will help fill the void left by Highsmith on the defensive line and DeLuca, if he picks up where he left off, will close in on the program’s career tackles record. He’s got 265, with former linebacker Jeff Gemmell holding the mark at 306.

5. Newcomer to watch

Want to keep an eye on a player new to the program? Although McAllister and Harbison will likely compete for the starting running back spot, Turner could get some playing time. Turner has size (6-feet, 190 pounds) and Healy describes him as a “slasher, with good breakaway speed.” Turner, a three-star recruit from Buford, Georgia, took an official visit to Southern California before signing with Charlotte in February. He missed some games late last season due to an injury, but finished with 782 yards, 13 touchdowns and — most telling — a 7.7-yard per carry average.

This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 2:45 PM.