Charlotte Football Preview, Best Players, Top Transfers, Season Prediction, Win Total 2024

Charlotte College Football Preview 2024

The crazy experiment gets a chance to come together.

Biff Poggi isn’t your normal college football head coach.

He worked his way up more like an advisor at Michigan instead of a regular assistant. He’s 64 and coming off a three-win season in his first time as a head man anywhere outside of a high school in Baltimore.

And now he’s going to work.

The transfers are coming in by the bunches, he has a nice staff assembled, and the expectations are just low enough to allow for a little more time to put it all together. Charlotte has just one winning season in nine years, and he came into a tough situation in need of a total rebuild.

Charlotte isn’t exactly an X factor in the American Athletic Conference, but it’s one of the toughest teams to figure out. There’s a chance it goes from blah to a blast in a hurry with a far better starting 22, but a whole lot more has to come from …

Charlotte Football Preview 2024: Offense

- Taking 2020 out of the mix, 2017 was the last time the Charlotte offense struggled as much as it did last season. There were injuries, inconsistencies, and few in college football were as bad on third downs - the 49ers converted just 24% of their chances.

There’s a reason the transfer portal was invented.

- The offensive line is starting over. Last year’s offense wasn’t awful, but it needed a boost. All five starters are being replaced - likely center Jonny King is the only returning 49er. Four transfers should start, led by guard Jordan Moko from Texas A&M and Jordan Herman from Florida.

Iowa State transfer Cartevious Newton was a great running back get. He’ll shine if he gets room to move, Michigan’s CJ Stokes is in the mix and will get his share of carries. These two should be a big upgrade fast, but the bigger spotlight is on …

- Max Brown comes in from Florida to push for the quarterback job. Last year’s passing game was a big struggle - more on that in a bit - but Trexler Ivey is experienced enough to be a ready-made backup. He threw four touchdown passes with ten picks - this should be Brown’s gig unless something goes very wrong.

The receiving corps should be a plus. Leading receiver Jairus Mack is back after averaging 18 yards per catch with 453 yards. It’s still a young corps helped by getting Justin Olson from Middle Tennessee from the outside.

Charlotte Football Preview 2024: Defense

- The defense wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t a rock against the decent teams, but there were just enough takeaways and third down stops to keep several games from getting out of hand - the offense was the problem.

The transfer portal is a bigger deal for this side of the ball with a whole lot more options and depth to play around with. It starts on the line with Dre Butler from Michigan State and Dre Martin from South Carolina two nice tackles to bulk up against the run.

Demon Clowney - cousin of Jadeveon - made 33 tackles with 2.5 sacks last season after coming in from Ole Miss. Stone Handy came up with 5.5 tackles for loss, but …

- The big plays should come from the linebackers. Star Demetrius Knight is gone, but Nikhai Hill-Green is a great all-around defender making 73 tackles with two sacks and nine tackles for loss. He’ll be a stat-sheet filler, and Prince Bemah should be one of the team’s top tacklers in the middle.

The portal is bringing in options for the corps, but not as much as it will for …

- The secondary has - at the moment - seven transfers who should play big roles. Safety Al-Ma’hi Ali missed a bulk of last year, but he’s back at one spot and fourth-leading tackler Dontae Balfour is retuning at corner. That’s about it for veteran 49ers with lots and LOTS of players coming in to rotate in and battle for other spots.

Key To The Charlotte Football Season

The passing game has GOT to be better.
There was absolutely nothing for opponents to worry about. The 49ers only threw for 200 yards twice, but it was worse than that. It wasn’t consistent, there wasn’t anything happening down the field, and just hitting the midrange passes was a struggle.

Charlotte Key Player

Max Brown, QB Soph.
The awful passing attack of last year has to change up fast, and that’s where the Florida transfer has to kick in. The 6-3, 225-pounder got in a little work including a start against the nasty Florida State defense. He has the tools and the skills, and now he has to be great right away as he tries to make the offense his.

Charlotte Football Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss

Top Transfer In: Cartevious Norton, RB Jr.
The 49ers went after running backs - CJ Stokes from Michigan should be in the mix, too - but Norton should be one of the main men early on. The 5-11, 225-pounder ran for over 300 yards in his first two years at Iowa State with five scores.

Top Transfer Out: Demetrius Knight, LB Sr.
It’s not surprising but it still stinks. The team’s best defensive player is off to South Carolina after leading the way with 96 tackles with three interceptions and 5.5 tackles for loss. He’ll be a force in the SEC, too.

Charlotte Key Game

East Carolina, Oct. 5
It was the team’s first of two wins last year against an FBS team. It wasn’t pretty, but a 10-7 victory on the road is a win.

This year’s 49er team might be better, but it’s still going to be a fight to get through September with more than two wins, if that many if it can’t beat James Madison in the opener.

With a week off after the home date against the Pirates, this is a must win before dealing with a brutal AAC stretch. Lose this, and there’s a big, big problem until the regular season finale against UAB.

10 Best Charlotte Football Players

1. Nikhai Hill-Green, LB Sr.
2. Dontae Belfour, CB Jr.
3. Max Brown, QB Soph.
4. Prince Bemah, LB Sr.
5. Cartevious Norton, RB Jr.
6. Jordan Herman, OT Soph.
7. Demon Clowney, DE Jr.
8. Jairus Mack, WR Jr.
9. Mo Clipper, OG Soph.
10. Dre Butler, DT Sr.

Charlotte 2023 Fun Stats

- 1st Quarter Scoring: Opponents 76, Charlotte 27

- Field Goals: Opponents 21-of-25, Charlotte 11-of-19

- Third Down Conversions: Opponents 63-of-160 (39%), 40-of-169 (24%)

Charlotte Football 2024 Win Total Prediction: What to Expect This Season

How this for high-quality college football analysis? When in comes to 2024 Charlotte …

Uhhhhhhh, I dunno.

There were plenty of good parts to last year’s team and it all didn’t work. However, there’s a decent base of veterans to go along with the gajillion transfers coming in to expect some semblance of improvement.

It’s not like the 2023 49ers were all that close, either - only one of the nine losses was by less than double-digits.

The team is good enough to at least match the three wins in each of the last two seasons - Gardner-Webb is one - but outside of maybe East Carolina and possibly UAB the 49ers probably won’t be favored against anyone else.

That’s not to say it can’t happen, but the team has to gel fast - again, ALL the transfers have to find roles right away.

Set The Charlotte Win Total At … 3.5

Likely Wins: Gardner-Webb

50/50 Games: East Carolina, at Florida Atlantic, James Madison, at Navy, at Rice, UAB, USF

Likely Losses: at Indiana, at Memphis, at North Carolina, Tulane

2024 Charlotte Football Schedule

Aug 31 James Madison
Sept 7 at North Carolina
Sept 14 Gardner-Webb
Sept 21 at Indiana
Sept 28 at Rice
Oct 5 East Carolina
Oct 12 OPEN DATE
Oct 19 at Navy
Oct 26 at Memphis
Oct 31 Tulane
Nov 9 OPEN DATE
Nov 16 USF
Nov 23 at Florida Atlantic
Nov 30 UAB

Missing: Army, North Texas, Temple, Tulsa, UTSA