One hundred days have come and gone since Tim Albin took charge as Charlotte’s fourth head football coach, and Tuesday marks the kickoff of spring practice as the season approaches.
Coined an “elite staff” by Albin, the 49ers’ evaluation period started back in December, and battles for key spots are already happening with just over five months until Appalachian State travels to the Queen City for the Duke’s Mayo Kickoff.
“It’s been a work in progress. I’ve certainly enjoyed working with our elite coaching staff and am very excited about it,” Albin told The Observer. “This staff is really going to care about who (our players) will become, and not just what they do.
“There will be a lot of teaching going on with the new staff. Every day up to this point has been an evaluation. One thing that’s impressed me and the staff is that (the team) wants to do it the right way. They want to be good. They’ve got a really good work ethic, which has been very pleasing to our staff. We’re not a finished product; we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
With Charlotte’s 15-practice schedule opening March 18 and concluding with the program’s Spring Showcase on April 19, here are five position battles to watch in Albin’s first spring with the 49ers.
Even before the official press conference, UNC Charlotte touted their new coach Tim Albin on digital billboards at Jerry Richardson Stadium. The Charlotte 49ers officially announced Tim Albin, a two-time Mid-American Conference coach of the year, as the new head coach of their gridiron squad on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. About 200 people attended the announcement. John D. Simmons For the Observer
Charlotte 49ers: Competitions on offense
OFFENSIVE LINE
With three former starters hitting the transfer portal, highlighted by PJ Wilkins (OIe Miss), Kendall Stanley (Pittsburgh), Jordan Spasojevic-Moko (California), plus Mitchell Mayes graduating (although the 49ers have inquired about an extra year of eligibility for Mayes), Charlotte will be slotting at least a trio of newcomers on the first-team offensive line in the spring. Returning center Jonny King was among the first from the Biff Poggi era to pull his name out of the transfer portal, with key reserves Mo Clipper Jr. and Tyler Gibson returning to Charlotte for another season with a new regime.
Todd Fitch — Charlotte’s new associate head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach — wears many hats and will call the plays. Offensive line coach and run game coordinator Allen Rudolph followed Albin from Ohio and has added a new crop of talent to the offensive trenches, many of whom are unproven at the FBS level.
King, Clipper Jr., Andrew Adair, Isaiah Bullerdick, and Mason Bowers (Kennesaw State) are the only five of the 12 rostered offensive linemen to see starts at the FBS level. In short, the offensive line’s development will be make or break. King is a sure-fire starter at center, but the combination of the new staff and a smorgasbord of young talent leaves question marks at four of the five positions on the offensive line.
And with a new signal caller taking the reins, the spring session will be about chemistry and cohesion.
QUARTERBACK
After two years of a multi-quarterback system under Poggi, Charlotte fans are hoping for a singular “guy” under Albin. With promising true freshman DeShawn Purdie transferring to Wake Forest, Max Brown landing at West Virginia, and Trexler Ivey stepping away from the game, the 49ers will have a new face at the helm when August rolls around.
Former Duke quarterback Grayson Loftis is one of the Charlotte 49ers’ players who have transferred in for the upcoming season. Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
Albin signed a trio of transfers, with former ACC rivals Grayson Loftis (6-foot-3, 215 pounds; Duke) and Conner Harrell (6-foot-2, 210 pounds, North Carolina) joining the fold, plus JUCO transfer Zack Wilcke (6-foot-3, 205 pounds), who started his career at Southern Mississippi in Conference USA.
“Everybody knows the offense runs through the quarterback. With that position, it is much easier to play if you can run the football. If you can run the ball, you can dictate some things,” Albin said. “It’s wide open. We’re going to equal the reps. The room is highly intelligent, and they’ve got some experience — the three transfers. For a brand-new staff coming in, to have a room like that, it’s pretty impressive with the caliber of players in there — especially for where it was at when we took over with no returners.”
Wilcke has the most starting experience of the trio, starting eight games in his true freshman season with the Golden Eagles, just one start shy of Brett Favre’s program record. After an up-and-down freshman season (1,163 yards, nine TDs and nine INTs), Wilcke was relegated to the bench as a sophomore, entered the portal, and signed with Northwest Mississippi CC, where he played in all 12 games in 2024.
Loftis showed the most promise as a true freshman in 2023, seeing five starts in Riley Leonard’s absence with the Blue Devils after garnering offers from Georgia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Appalachian State, among others, out of high school. Loftis threw for 1,006 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions, with a completion percentage of 55.8% in his true freshman season.
Like Wilcke, Loftis was buried on the depth chart after showing flashes as a true freshman, with Texas transfer Maalik Murphy taking the Blue Devils’ starting job in 2024. Loftis didn’t throw a single pass in 2024, with Manny Diez taking the program’s reins, leading to the redshirt sophomore hitting the portal.
Nov 23, 2024; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Conner Harrell (15) warms up before a game at Alumni Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images Eric Canha-Imagn Images
Harrell sat behind No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye for two seasons at North Carolina, seeing his first start in Maye’s place against West Virginia in the 2023 Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Harrell entered 2024 as the Tar Heels’ backup quarterback but was thrown into the starting lineup against Charlotte in their Week 2 matchup with season starter Max Johnson exiting with injury in Week 1. Harrell played his career-best game against the 49ers’ defense, throwing for 219 yards and totaling three touchdowns and one interception. He was benched the following week after a slow start against North Carolina Central and served in a reserve role for the remainder of the season.
All three transfers, plus returning redshirt freshman Tanner Bushee (6-foot-2, 180 pounds), will compete for the starting job. So whom will the new signal callers throw to this season? Spoiler alert: It’s an entirely new group.
WIDE RECEIVER
Charlotte passed for 2,689 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, spanning the revolving door at quarterback. Albin is tasked with replacing 2,430 yards and 15 of those touchdowns, with over 90% of the receiving production exiting through the transfer portal or graduation. Wideout Sean Brown, who accounted for 470 yards and a touchdown while leading the team with 35 receptions, is awaiting a ruling from the NCAA to play a final season but is currently not on the spring roster.
And Justin Olson, who missed nearly the entire 2024 season with an injury, is back for his final year of college football.
Albin has added Nate Spillman (6-foot-2, 180 pounds; Tennessee), Will Hawkins IV (6-foot-4, 200 pounds; Miami), and Jayden McGowan (5-foot-7, 180 pounds; Boston College) from the Power Four level, with only the latter seeing snaps in the FBS. McGowan started his career at Vanderbilt catching 80 passes for 836 yards and three touchdowns across two seasons with the Commodores before transferring to Boston College, where he caught just two passes.
Unlike Poggi’s mindset, Albin has seemingly prioritized recruiting from smaller programs in his first season with the program, including KD Gibson (6 feet, 185 pounds), who followed Wilcke from NW Mississippi CC.
Despite the new regime, Miles Burris’ (6-foot-2, 190 pounds) progression in the second half of 2024 provides optimism for what the Jacksonville, Florida, native hopes to be a big sophomore leap.
Charlotte 49ers: Competitions on defense
EDGE/DEFENSIVE END
After struggling to rush the passer a season ago, finishing 13th out of 14 teams in the AAC with just 17 sacks, Albin is looking to get after the quarterback in year one.
“We want to get after the quarterback. I know that’s the philosophy, but we’ve been able to be very successful defensively the last three years (at Ohio), and that’s what we’re going to get done at Charlotte.”
With starters Stone Handy and Chantz Williams declaring for the NFL Draft, Demon Clowney landing in the ACC at Louisville and Mike Kelly-Lawson graduating, snaps on the edge are wide open.
Returning contributors from last season include Donovan Spellman (two sacks) and Zion Shockley, leaving the battles on the edges up for grabs in the spring session. Spellman transferred from Appalachian State ahead of the 2024 season and will get a chance at revenge against his old team in the opener.
Operating in a 4-2-5 defensive scheme under Albin, pressure off the edge will be key in improving on the 122nd-worst defense in the nation last season.
CORNERBACK
The edge rusher-cornerback relationship can make or break games, and Albin’s looking at a completely new room under cornerbacks coach and defensive pass game coordinator Tre’ Bell.
With starting duo Dontae Balfour (Texas Tech) and Elijah Culp (unsigned) exiting through the portal, there are plenty of snaps for the taking. Charlotte added cornerbacks Dwight Bootle II (5-foot-10, 180 pounds; Nebraska), Collin Gill (6 feet, 215 pounds; Georgia), and Caleb Curtain (6-foot-1, 195 pounds; Elon) through the portal, among others.
Returning safeties Al-Ma’hi Ali, Ja’Qurious Conley, and Treyveon McGee will provide stability in the secondary as the reps at cornerback are sorted out through the spring and into fall camp. Cornerbacks CJ Clinkscales, Antonio Cotman Jr. and Derrick Edwards saw reserve snaps last season and will return hoping for bigger roles under Albin.
Despite new faces across every position on the field, Albin is excited about the defense and thinks the fan base should be, too.
“For me as a head coach, I’m so excited about merging these two (defensive coordinator Nate Faanes and co-defensive coordinator Kurt Mattix) together. And then you throw in Brian Nardo, who was the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State. And Tre’ Bell — wow. He was at West Virginia last year. It’s been a lot of fun to listen as they work through things about attacking formations and third-down packages. It should be very exciting for our fan base.”