Charlotte 49ers still looking for the magic that ignited 2019 team

Coach Will Healy wants to stress that he’s not happy that his Charlotte 49ers are 0-2.

But, he’s also realistic about where the 49ers are as a team given the circumstances of this anything-but-normal season.

“I don’t think that this group understands how good they can be,” Healy said. “It’s always important to me to have a really tight-knit group. And I don’t know that we’re there yet, because we have a lot of new faces, we have a lot of new (coaching) staff faces. I think that every time they can go through some adversity together and grow together, as long as they’ll keep the right mindset, then we’re going to get better.”

After dropping their season opener at Appalachian State on Sept. 12, the 49ers (0-2, 0-1 Conference USA) had to wait three weeks to play again when games against North Carolina and Georgia State were called off due to coronavirus concerns. Charlotte dropped its C-USA opener last Saturday at Florida Atlantic and travels to North Texas (1-2, 0-1) this Saturday.

In what was his first season at Charlotte, Healy wants the culture he began to establish in 2019 to become ingrained in the program, to carry over seamlessly from season to season. The 49ers lost 10 starters off last season’s team that had a winning record (7-6) and played in a bowl for the first time in program history. The 49ers’ “Club Lit” locker room victory celebrations went viral.

Replicating that was never going to be easy, much less when there’s a pandemic disrupting the program and society at large. The opportunity to bond and form those kinds of relationships among a group that includes dozens of new players has become much more challenging. Spring practice and summer workouts were disrupted. Players, who were introduced to each other on Zoom calls, are practicing and heading back to their homes or dorms, rather than being allowed to stick around and socialize in the locker room.

“You have last year’s football team, that 2019 group, and you’ve got your 2020 team here,” said junior quarterback Chris Reynolds, one of Charlotte’s captains. “You’ve got a lot of the same leaders and a lot of guys coming back. The deal is, you’ve got to bring guys along, we’ve got to teach them the ways. I think once you build that bond, we see teams taking it to a different level.”

Safety Antone Williams, a grad transfer from Duke, is in his first season at Charlotte.

“I definitely feel like if we have had the same amount of time, in a normal season we would get close with each other,” said Williams. “But I definitely agree with coach, we’re not exactly where we want to be. But after this (FAU) game, I can even feel it’s coming closer together. And closer.

“It’s just, we have a lot of new guys. I’m even a new guy, I haven’t been around everybody as long. But when you get in those trenches, I definitely feel that unity coming together. And the more we come together, it is going to become even more of a family and you’ll see it in our play. We’ve just got to continue to get close to each other and jell and become glue, become one.”

The 49ers squandered a 10-0 halftime lead in a 21-17 loss at FAU. It’s fruitless to wonder if more cohesion or unity would have made a difference in the second half.

“The fun thing about it is you should see more growth in this team,” Healy said. “We still don’t necessarily have an identity. We still don’t have the camaraderie that I would like to have at this point. But I think that the talent and the character of this football team will be really good in (November). It’s just going to be a process. They’ve got that mindset, so I’ve been really proud of them.

“Do I want to win a game and show the new guys what Club Lit looks like and enjoy celebrating success? Absolutely. Should we have done it on Saturday? Sure. But you know this is another really good opportunity. I just always enjoy watching them have success, so hopefully we’ll be able to find a way this week.”

49ers notes

▪ Healy said defensive end Markees Watts (lower body) and receiver Rico Arnold (back) are questionable for the North Texas game. Watts was injured against App State; Arnold went out during the first offensive series against FAU. Defensive tackle Mikel Horton is suspended for the first half of the Mean Green game after he was ejected against FAU for targeting.

▪ The 49ers allowed six sacks against FAU. Healy, saying that is “ridiculously too many,” blamed half of them on missed assignments and half on Reynolds not getting rid of the ball fast enough.

▪ Kickoff for Charlotte’s home opener Oct. 17 against Florida International has been moved to 8 p.m. on ESPNU. It will be the third consecutive game the 49ers will play on that channel. No announcement has been made yet on whether, or how many, fans will be allowed at the game.

▪ Healy and athletics director Mike Hill said the 49ers are continuing to look for games on Nov. 14 (now an open date) and possibly Dec. 5. Hill told the Observer he’s “not optimistic” the Georgia State game can be rescheduled, but that Gardner-Webb (a Football Championship Subdivision team looking for games in November) “has expressed some interest.”

▪ The Bahamas Bowl, the postseason game in which the 49ers played last season, has been canceled this season, according to ESPN, which owns the bowl.

Scouting North Texas

▪ The Mean Green (1-2, 0-1) lost its C-USA opener 41-31 against Southern Mississippi. North Texas was without seven key players for the game against the Golden Eagles, due to injuries, contact tracing and quarantine. North Texas has had one game, against Houston, canceled due to coronavirus concerns.

▪ North Texas fell behind Southern Miss 27-10 early in the third quarter and lost three fumbles.

▪ The Mean Green leads C-USA in scoring (41.0 points per game), thanks in large part to a 57-31 victory against Houston Baptist. At the other end of the spectrum, North Texas is last in the league in scoring defense (45.7).

▪ Quarterback Austin Aune averages 242.0 yards passing, second in the league. Aune, 27 and a redshirt sophomore, signed with Texas Christian out of high school, but was drafted in the second round and 89th overall by the New York Yankees in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft.

He spent six seasons in the Yankees organization before deciding to give college football a try. He went to Arkansas as a walk-on in 2018 before transferring to North Texas. He was backup last season to Mason Fine, who finished his career as the Mean Green’s leader in most passing categories.

This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 4:06 PM.