2026 Charlotte 49er Football 🏈

CarlP · April 6, 2026, 12:37pm

I certainly understand and agree with that; it needs to be proven on the field. Yet, had the coaches NOT been optimistic about the offensive line, I’d have been truly worried. Also, Rutledge also said some extremely positive things about the line, that it was going to be a lot of fun to run behind. Yes, it’s true that RBs know that it’s good to get on the good side of the offensive line, but still, his optimism looked genuine, and was encouraging.

Rudolph had a good track record of producing solid offensive lines in the past, so I haven’t given up on him yet. Last year’s line did suck, but in fairness, it undoubtedly would have been better without injuries to 9 of the 17 linemen on the roster. Rockhead, O. Davis, Bullerdick, Kelley, Adair, King, and Brinkley all missed most or all of the season, while Bower and Green missed part of it. At least some of those injured players will be back this year, and I really like all four of the portal players this year (Williams from Penn St, Sandy from Wyoming, Cruji from Maine, and Nielsen from Denmark via Virginia Union). There are 3 players from JUCO this year, and I usually expect them to be backups, but NolanCook might be good.

The bottom line is that the line needs to prove it on the field, but there are reasons I am hopeful.

49er1 · April 6, 2026, 2:41pm

I want to be hopeful. I was hopeful through the freaking roof last preseason. And then the game vs unc Tweetsie absolutely crushed me and crapped on any hope I had. So, not getting my hopes up again. Just emotionally ambivalent and letting the season unfold as it will.

ninerfan55 · April 6, 2026, 2:45pm

I expect us to be better, but it does appear that we are looking to add another transfer to the oline, based on recent follows

switchfoot · April 6, 2026, 3:12pm

I learned with Healy, Biff, and Albin not to drink the kool aid as far as any preseason hype. We had so many damn injuries last year it’s hard to figure out what we exactly had. I am cautiously optimistic at this point.

Amnesiac1 · April 7, 2026, 2:06am

We were consistently blown out in conference last season & in general our time in the AAC.

Would be great if we could compete in some games this year…. The issue is in this conference you either have to have great lines on both sides of the ball (Tulane, Army, Navy…) and/or a great QB and skill/fast players …. We just havent figured out how to get there yet in the AAC.

Not sure anything in this off season makes it seem like we have closed any of these gaps…

ninerfan55 · April 7, 2026, 3:03am

What in the offseason makes you unsure if we closed those gaps?

Eaglerare · April 7, 2026, 9:39am

Yeah the game vs Watauga Community College hit me hard last year as did renewing my season tickets last week. Prove it on the field and be competitive is all we ask for now

ghostofclt · April 7, 2026, 10:12am

clt says don’t forget that we were the most injured team in cfb last year. we will be better

Nineradvocate · April 7, 2026, 5:53pm

https://x.com/i/status/2041570202433794512

Nineradvocate · April 7, 2026, 6:18pm

Nineradvocate · April 8, 2026, 3:27pm

https://x.com/i/status/2041899493315035513

CarlP · April 8, 2026, 4:11pm

Albin says that they expect to have a depth chart at the end of Spring practice, and I’m looking forward to seeing it. While it won’t be final, it will tell us a lot about what we might expect this fall. At this point, I no longer expect Charlotte to release a Spring 2026 roster, but once we have a depth chart, the full roster will be mostly unnecessary, at least until they have to produce the game notes for the first game.

CarlP · April 11, 2026, 11:21pm

A roster has appeared. It answers some questions, but is incomplete, as it only includes 94 players, while there are reportedly 98 players in camp. One good bit that stands out is that Clinkscales is indeed on the roster. To find the missing players, supposedly the camp participants includes 52 returning players, 15 Freshmen, 9 from JUCO, and 22 from the Portal, for a total of 98. Reconciling the numbers with the known data, and guessing at the proper resolution:

Freshmen - 15 Supposed to be in camp, 15 on roster

Portal players - Supposed to be 22, 22 on roster.

JUCOs - 9 Supposed to be in camp, 7 on roster. Probably Elijah Jackson and JP Patterson are both in camp, and need to be added to the roster.

Returning players - Supposed to be 52 in camp, roster only lists 50. We know that McGowan isin camp, but he still needs to be added to the roster. That leaves one more who is in camp, but not on the roster. The last missing player is probably one from the group: Dominick Kelley, Daniel Phillips, Eli Reed, Boston Brinkley, Chris Rivens, and Dallas Shirley. Most are walkons who never played, so I’m hoping that the missing one is Dallas Shirley.

The Freshmen who have not yet reported, and who are expected in the Fall are Mason McGill, Callum Cary, Kaiden Bower, Alchino Blakely, Jarell Turner, Spencer Makuch, though one of them may end up in JUCO. I have no knowledge of which one.

Summarizing, the roster currently lists 94 players. I expect to see Elijan Jackson, JP Patterson, Jayden McGowan, and one other unknown returning player added to the roster to bring it up to 98. Then I expect 5 more Freshmen in the Fall, and 2 new recruits, either JUCO or from the remaining players in the portal, to bring the total to the final number of 105.

A few notes on player positions:

Seth Franklin has moved from FS to WR

Tristen Brown has moved from DT to OL

Brady Dawyot is already listed at TE. I expected him to end up there, but to start at QB.

Kaden Catoe is starting at DB. He was recruited as “Athlete”