Charlotte 49ers open with App State, UNC. But Will Healy isn’t scared — and shouldn’t be
As Charlotte football fans have watched the 49ers’ 2020 schedule change almost daily with a sense of delight, coach Will Healy has viewed the same metamorphosis with a mix of anticipation and trepidation.
Saturday, the 49ers added a game against No. 19 UNC on Sept. 19th in Chapel Hill. Wednesday, Appalachian State and the 49ers agreed to a Sept. 12th game in Boone.
“I’m not scared of them,” Healy said as we talked Thursday about his team’s first two opponents. “But I understand the task at hand, and how well we’ll have to play to have a shot.”
With COVID-19 altering the college football landscape on an hourly basis, the 49ers continue (for now) to be one of the few college teams that plan to play in the fall. That has made them a suddenly attractive opponent, as football schedules constructed years ago are torn up and redone on the fly all over America.
The 49ers also will play at Duke on Halloween, giving them games against two ACC teams, as well as an App State team that went 13-1 in 2019 and that Healy claims has even more talent in 2020.
“I feel like we’re scheduling the NFC East,” Healy laughed. “I’m wondering if Mike (Hill, the 49ers’ athletic director) is upset with me and trying to get rid of me.”
Fat chance of that. With Healy as a rookie head coach, the 49ers had their first winning season ever in 2019 and earned a spot in their first bowl game. The 49ers’ record ended up being a modest 7-6 after they lost in the Bahamas Bowl to Buffalo. But Charlotte had gone only 22-48 in its first six seasons since establishing its football program in 2013.
These 49ers have 11 games on their schedule at the moment, beginning with that game at App State. A 12th game may be added soon. Healy, 35, said it’s quite possible that Conference USA will assign the 49ers another league game to make up for the one they lost when Old Dominion recently decided not to play football in the fall.
All of it is changing rapidly, and Healy is quite aware it could all be shut down — or moved to the spring, as the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences have said they’ll do — at any moment, depending on the coronavirus.
For now, though, the 49ers’ positive COVID-19 tests have been minimal. The team has been socially distancing in meetings, practicing regularly and planning a live scrimmage Saturday (albeit with no fans).
Said Healy: “I believe the (Conference USA) presidents have a follow-up meeting on Friday. But from everything I’ve been told, the plan is, ‘Let’s move forward.’ ... If we get to a point where we don’t feel like it’s safe to continue to do it, then we’ll stop it. But as of right now, let’s try to move forward with the intentions of playing.”
Three of the top four Charlotte players from the 2019 team have moved onto NFL camps, as first-team all-conference selections running back Benny LeMay, offensive tackle Cam Clark and defensive end Alex Highsmith must be replaced. The fourth is quarterback Chris Reynolds, who remains for Healy to construct his offense around.
The players, Healy said, mostly seem to understand the element of risk playing in a COVID-19 world because of the sport’s nature.
“You take a risk every time you step on the field,” Healy said, “and that was before COVID. Injuries. Concussions. I mean — deaths. It is a violent, physical sport. … These guys get it. They know that every time they step out there, they put themselves at risk and this is an added one that we don’t know a whole lot about. So, I think that the overwhelming majority of our football team says the risk is worth the reward.”
If the 49ers play, they recognize that fans may not be allowed at the games at all. The game at Boone will be played there rather than in Charlotte in part because of Kidd Brewer Stadium’s larger capacity, but that may well be wishful thinking. Most sporting events that are happening in America are occurring without fans, and in only a month that seems unlikely to change. I would be shocked if the Carolina Panthers’ home opener Sept. 13th allows any fans, and Charlotte-App State on Sept. 12th is likely in the same boat.
“To not have fans, that takes something away,” Healy said. “But I think if you (told) our guys, ‘Well, if we have fans, we can’t play’ — I mean, they want to play football.”
For now, that’s exactly what they plan to do — with back-to-back September weekends in Boone and Chapel Hill that provide two opportunities to pull off another moment to remember.
