Charlotte 49ers receivers young, talented — and now they have experience

Charlotte 49ers football coach Will Healy knows exactly what he has at the wide receiver position this season.

“As a first-year coach last year, I knew what those guys looked like on film prior to when we got here,” Healy said. “I knew what they looked like in practice. But you wondered how they would be when the lights turned on for a new (coaching) staff and a new (offensive) coordinator.”

The 49ers receivers didn’t shy away from those bright lights — or a new coaching staff — last season and, led by dynamic junior Victor Tucker, they all return for Charlotte, which opens the season next Saturday at Appalachian State.

“We have options,” Healy said in an understatement about his top five receivers, each of whom have at least one 100-yard-plus game in their careers.

First, there’s Tucker, a crafty route-runner who says he’s “deceptively slow.” Tucker had five 100-yard games in 2019, including two last-minute touchdown catches in victories against North Texas and Marshall.

He’s followed by the only senior in the group, Tyler Ringwood, whose size (6-foot-3, 221 pounds) makes him the 49ers’ most physical receiver. He’s also productive: five of his 25 receptions last season were for touchdowns.

Junior Cameron Dollar, whose roommate is quarterback Chris Reynolds, had 599 receiving yards last season, including 157 yards and two touchdowns in a victory against Texas-El Paso.

Redshirt sophomore Rico Arnold missed last season with a foot injury. He was Charlotte’s third-leading receiver as a freshman with 22 catches for 302 yards.

Sophomore Micaleous Elder, the fastest of the bunch, had 266 receiving yards last season — 119 of them coming at App State.

First-year offensive coordinator Mark Carney (he was Charlotte’s quarterbacks coach last season) credits receivers coach Montario Hardesty with an easy-to-understand philosophy for the wideouts.

“Coach Mo teaches them to keep it simple,” Carney said. “A lot of times when you’re coaching receivers, it’s ‘give them this or give them that.’ Or ‘try this or try that.’ He just gives them a set of rules and tips they can use and that allows them to be just their really talented selves.”

Tucker, honorable mention All-Conference USA last season, is the clear leader of the group.

“I definitely feel like I have that leadership role,” Tucker said. “Guys look to me for energy. I have to be on my game. Everybody moves off me. That puts extra responsibility on me. I can’t slack.”

Healy said that despite Tucker’s stats (909 yards and seven touchdowns last season) and flair for the dramatic (his game-sealing touchdown catch against Marshall came with his helmet being ripped off by a Thundering Herd defender), there’s plenty of room to grow.

“There were five or six games last year where he lit it up,” Healy said. “I told him he was ‘blinking’ like the old NCAA (computer) game and there were five or six games where you didn’t even know he was in the stadium. So the consistency with Vic has got to be better than it was a year ago and that starts with practice and preparation.

“But he’s a dynamic player. He’s deceptively fast, or as he says, he’s deceptively slow. He’s got a really good knack for the ball and he seems to come up big in big moments.”

Getting the ball to these receivers will be the responsibility of Reynolds.

“I think we look confident — fast and confident,” Reynolds said. “We’re coming in here with the wheels turning, and everybody knows what they’re doing. Once you know what you’re doing, you can take this thing as far as you want it to go.”

Dollar is Reynolds’ roommate and, Carney says, his security blanket on the field.

“You look at our receiving corps this year and we’re young guys capable of having big games,” said Dollar, whose claim to fame at East Lincoln High was catching seven touchdown passes in a single game. “But if you think about the competition in the (receivers) room, it’s a lot of the ‘me-before-team’ aspect. We all want success for each other.”