Why Charlotte 49ers’ football coach believes ‘versatility’ is team’s best asset
Wednesday marks the opening of the spring football transfer portal window, which spans 10 days through April 25 and will provide a better idea of Charlotte’s 2025 roster under first-year head coach Tim Albin.
Following a mass exodus after Biff Poggi’s firing, including more than 15 starters from last season’s roster, Albin has brought in a new crop of talent in his first season in the American Athletic Conference, and it sounds like more help is on the way.
“We’ll be doing player and exit meetings the following week with our guys, where we stand as a program and what our needs are,” Albin told the media following the team’s second scrimmage. “There’s an opportunity for us to go out and pick up some guys, and we’re certainly going to address some needs.”
On the first day of spring practice, Albin noted that nearly every program in the nation deals with roster turnover. He and his staff have formulated a plan to lure talent to the Queen City and retain key contributors from previous regimes.
And it starts up front.
“We’re going to build this thing inside out — offensive line and defensive line,” Albin said. “We want to get after that quarterback. I know that’s philosophy, but we’ve been able to be very successful defensively the past three years (at Ohio), and that’s what we’re going to get done here at Charlotte.”
49ers showing improvement
When asked about his thoughts on the roster’s improvement through a dozen of the team’s 15 spring practices, Albin noted the myriad lineup combinations the 49ers are deploying and the roster-spot adjustment, a dip from 120 to 105 available spots.
“When we’re playing everybody in a lot of different rotations, with us moving toward 105 on the roster, it looks like, I think versatility is going to be important,” Albin said. “We’re moving guys around at different positions, particularly up front on the offensive and defensive lines.
“We’ve had some bumps and bruises on the offensive line. When I say versatility, we’ve been moving guys around. I’m very proud of the shuffling and picking up the playbook. We return some pretty good experience at safety – I’d say those are the two (positions) that stand out,” Albin continued. “As a program, there’s been improvement daily. We’re a long way away, and there’s a lot of work to do, but I like our progress to this point.”
For the first time since Albin took center stage in December, Charlotte fans can see the 49ers in action at Richardson Stadium this Saturday.
Spring showcase
Following Charlotte’s home women’s lacrosse match Saturday, the 49ers’ football team will host its free-admission Spring Showcase on McColl-Richardson Field at 4 p.m.
While not a traditional spring game — it won’t feature a scoreboard — Charlotte will utilize their 15th and final practice as just that—a practice including individual drills, 7 on 7, 11 on 11, and limited team reps to conclude the spring session.
With the portal window already open and Charlotte’s first two opponents (Appalachian State and North Carolina) being in-state foes, Albin is focused on getting his players in front of the 49ers faithful and seeing how they respond in front of their home crowd — where they will spend the first month of the season, not traveling for a road game until October.
“Looking forward to having fans in the stands and finishing this thing off the right way. It’ll be more of a practice. We’ll be limited on the amount of reps we go and how long we go,” said Albin. “It’ll be great to get our guys out in front of our very passionate fan base. I think it’ll be great because we don’t have a lot of returning experience. That’ll be our approach.”
This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 5:30 AM.