Charlotte 49ers players facing decision of taking extra year of eligibility
Charlotte 49ers safety Antone Williams says he’s pretty sure he’ll take advantage of the NCAA’s recent decision to allow an extra year of eligibility to all fall sports athletes. Teammate Ben DeLuca isn’t so sure.
Those are the kinds of decisions -- among players and coaches -- that will need to be made over the next several months as college football continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I guess the sixth year is definitely something I’m thinking about,” said Williams, a graduate transfer from Duke playing his first season at Charlotte. “I’m seeing kind of how things go.”
This is Williams’ fifth season as a college football player. He spent four years at Duke from 2016-19 (not playing as a freshman), graduating with degrees in African American Studies and Sociology. As a grad transfer (he’s in UNC Charlotte’s Master of Science in Management program), Williams was eligible to play immediately at Charlotte. He’s started all three games for the 49ers (1-2, 1-1 Conference USA), who play their home opener Saturday against Texas-El Paso (3-2, 0-1) at Richardson Stadium. He’s got nine tackles and broken up two passes.
“For me right now, that’s definitely a plan: to take this year and get to learn the defense and come back and play again,” Williams said. “That’s definitely a plan for me so far.”
DeLuca, who starts alongside Williams at the other safety spot, is also in his fifth season. He redshirted in 2019 after injuring his shoulder in the second game of the season against Appalachian State. He’s closing in on Charlotte’s career tackling record, needing 15 to overtake former linebacker Jeff Gemmell’s 306..
“Right now, (I’m) just really staying in the moment,” DeLuca said. “I know that as I continue to be present, God will continue to kind of shine the light on what my next step is, so really just kind of focus more on ... each game we get to play. I know as time continues to go, I’ll just continue to work down the line. I know I’ll be able to make the right decision.”
Most Charlotte players have already redshirted, so an added season would be a fifth on the field for them, although they would be in the program for six seasons. Then there’s defensive end and team captain Tyriq Harris, who came to Charlotte in 2015. After redshirting his freshman season, he played three seasons before missing 2019 with a back injury. He received a medical waiver to play this season, so a potential extra year in 2021 for Harris would be his seventh in the Charlotte program.
“Obviously, those are guys we would love to have back,” 49ers coach Will Healy said. “You’re talking about Tyriq, who would be the first (seventh)-year captain in the history of college athletics. He may be the head coach here next year instead of the defensive end. You’d love for those guys to come back, but I think we’ll see how they feel at the end of the year.”
Although players who decide to use the extra season won’t be counted against the roster scholarship limit of 85 in 2021, this will also become somewhat of a numbers game for Healy over the next few seasons.
“What it does for your scholarship numbers down the road will be interesting,” Healy said. “They’re not going to give you a break for 2022 so you’re going to have to do some roster management. There will be a brand new transfer portal. You may have some attrition with guys deciding to go other places.
“My deal is we’ve got to continue to build this roster, and the foundation of our roster is going to be high school players. We’ve got a signed class that continues to come in and add to what we just signed this past year, and continue to build it and make sure that it’s sustainable.
“We’re going to hope that a lot of these seniors come back and go play for us. If we do we’ll feel really good about it but we’ve got to continue to build; not just worry about what’s going to happen next year.”
UTEP at Charlotte
When: Noon, Saturday.
Where: Richardson Stadium, Charlotte.
Watch: ESPN+.