I am a bit concerned about the depth of our running back group? Who is the projected starter and who will carry at the goal line?
What happened to Don Chaney?
Unsure. Not on the roster anymore
I think a surprise in our RB room will be Cameren Smith!
Also, Jariel Cobb has a lot of potential.
Breakout year for Mr. Rodd Gainey?
Nate Spillman (WR from Tennesee) and Jefferson Lambert (DT) are also gone from the roster, as well as Aiden Martinez who I posted about earlier. The roster is now down to 102 players. That leaves room for Mayes, plus they could make a couple of late additions, if they find players they think can help the team.
Do we know what happened with these recent players no longer on the team? Seems like significant passes. Did the P4 swoop in on us?
Those are tough blows if true. Phil Steele I believe mentioned all of them, which means the staff thought they’d all be here when he did the interview with them. It seems awfully late for P4 schools to swoop in and grab them, but nothing surprises me anymore.
We have to be able to run the ball for what Albin wants to do.
Maybe we make some late late portal pickups. Any Ohio RBs in the portal or any LSU guys?
Yeah I really like Gainey and hope he gets some reps.
That’s too bad about spillman, even though he was a walk on.
Nate Spillman from Tennessee was a walk on?
https://247sports.com/player/nate-spillman-46098689/college-298050/
I’m so upbeat for this season, roster moves aren’t spoiling it for me. It’s just so nice to have a football coach and not a caricature of one. I’ll still be on board at the end of the season regardless of actual wins.
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Agreed Mac, This might be the first time in our teams history that I feel like the coach knows what he’s doing going into the season. I loved Healy and Biff’s bravado and attention that they brought but the on field experience was still lacking. I’m not going to rag on Brad because he didn’t sign up for FBS football with an FCS budget and facility.
Albin has proven he can win at a place that was not a historic winner. I believe he will succeed here as long as the administation supports him properly.
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He was. Still, wish he would have stuck around
I was walking on campus this morning and I saw they were constructing something behind like sections 128-129. Not sure if it’s the added seats or what.
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If I had to guess, I’d guess that whatever happened with Cheney happened awhile ago. It surprised me when they added Cameren Smith, and then after that they added Cobb. I have no clue what happened, but it doesn’t really matter. I’ve always said that if a player isn’t happy, they should be free to leave. Charlotte still has six RB, and someone will step up and excel.
The same goes for Spillman. I wish them good luck in their future endeavors.
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I care a lot more about the OL than I do any RB. If the line can block you find somebody to run the ball.
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Hopefully we get that waiver for mayes. Would add consistency to an already deep oline
I thought I would post some random Ohio stats from the last few years. First, offensive stats
W/L Rush/Gm Pass/Gm Tot/game
2018 9-4 259 208 467
2019 7-6 222 221 443
2021 3-9 187 184 371
2022 10-4 143 278 421
2023 10-3 144 204 348
2024 11-3 214 192 406
The offense has always been fairly effective, and they have always run the ball fairly well. When they had a running QB in 2018-19 and 2024 they ran the ball more effectively. When they had a passing QB in 2022-2023, they passed the ball more and ran less.
I expect the same at Charlotte. The Offense will move the ball. They will run the ball effectively, and pass effectively. They will score points. At Ohio, however, offensive performance was not, in general, well correlated with wins.
Next let’s look at defensive stats. Defense determined whether Ohio won or not, and my expectation is that defense is also gong to determine whether Charlotte wins or not:
W/L Rush/Gm Pass/Gm Tot/game
2018 9-4 137 254 391
2019 7-6 167 237 404
2021 3-9 193 239 432
2022 10-4 141 286 427
2023 10-3 91 183 274
2024 11-3 92 213 305
First, a little background on these stats. During 2018-2021, Ohio used a Cover-4 defense, and honestly it worked very well sometimes, but in particular, did not work well against the best teams. In 2022, they changed coordinators went to a very aggressive 4-2-5 defense. The defense was horrible in the first 6 games, and great the last 8. In 2024, after the DC was hired away by Memphis, there was a new DC, but the defensive plan stayed the same, and the results stayed the same. I expect more of same at Charlotte.
Overall, the defense predicts the record. The defense wasn’t as good in 2019, and was bad in 2021, and that showed in the results. 2021 was worse because the offense wasn’t as good as normal, either. The stats above for 2022 are deceptive. During the first six games, they had the worst defense in the country, but still managed to win three by crazy scores (41-38, 59-52, 55-34). Once the defense settled down, they went 7-1 the rest of the way, and were in position to win the Conference championship, but their QB got a season ending injury in game before the Championship.
So, what do I expect at Charlotte? Well, all these new players are going to have to work together to learn the defense. It may take a few games, but hopefully not six. The offense will produce results, but they are more likely to be scoring 30 points a game than 50, so if this defense struggles like Ohio in 2022, it could be an ugly start.
I am hoping for a fairly smooth start, and if so, it will set the tone for a good season. I expect them to stop the run, and then deal with the passes. If they can do this, Charlotte will win some games.
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clt seems to remember a 4 -2-5with healy