Editor’s note: This is part 10 of a 13-part series previewing each of Western Kentucky’s opponents for the 2022 football season. Part 10 features a look at Charlotte. Part 11 will preview Rice.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Charlotte’s football program has risen rapidly since its start, and it hopes to take a step forward on the field this fall.

The 49ers enter the program’s 10th season in 2022 and its last in Conference USA before making the move to the American Athletic Conference. The Hilltoppers will take one more regular-season trip to the Queen City on Nov. 5 to face the 49ers as conference foes.

Because of the newness of the program, combined with an extra year of eligibility granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a handful of 49ers – like four-year letterwinners Chris Reynolds, Calvin Camp, Markees Watts and Victor Tucker – have been around for a large portion of Charlotte’s history. Fourth-year head coach Will Healy is hoping to send them out with a bang and springboard the program into the AAC.

“I’m passionate and excited about making sure their last go-around is special and unique and that they leave this place as winners and we leave this conference as winners as well,” Healy said at the C-USA Football Kickoff at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

Charlotte began play in 2013 and made the jump from an FCS independent to the FBS as a member of C-USA in 2015. The 49ers have gone 36-65 in nine seasons and had their best year in 2019, when they won a program-record seven games, including five C-USA games, and had the most home wins at Jerry Richardson Stadium with five. The 49ers also played in – and won – their first bowl game with a victory over Buffalo in the Bahamas Bowl.

The 49ers struggled in a COVID-disrupted 2020 season but got off to a solid 4-2 start last year that included the program’s first victory over a Power Five opponent when it beat Duke in the opener. Charlotte struggled to close the year, however, and lost five of its final six games to finish 5-7. That stretch included a 45-13 loss to WKU at Houchens-Smith Stadium.

“There was a bunch of excitement at the beginning of last year – starting 4-2, first Power Five win and we still left some out there,” said Reynolds, a four-year starter at quarterback. “ … What I’ve learned is just take it one day at a time. Sometimes that can get boring, can sound cliché, but it’s real. I’ve said it before. We like to put goals on a board and everybody should have goals, but there’s got to be work behind it, there has to be a process behind it.”

Charlotte returns 48 letterwinners compared to just 14 lost. The returners include seven on offense and six on defense, as well as five on special teams. The 49ers saw some changes on the coaching staff, including additions to the program with Greg Brown as defensive coordinator, Brian Baker as defensive line coach, Kap Dede as defensive backs coach and Cordae Hankton as running backs coach.

“As we talk about this year, it’s about 40 new faces and about half of a new staff and it’s starting all over. Nothing that we’ve done in the past – good or bad – has anything to do with what happens in 2022,” Healy said. “We’ve got 24 practices to be able to figure out what our identity is and how good we want to be, how close can we be as a football team, how accountable can we be, how consistent can we be? Because I know we have really good players and I know we have really good leadership. Typically, that’s a great recipe for success.”

The 49ers averaged 27.2 points per game last year – the ninth-best mark of 14 teams in C-USA – and return talent at skill positions, but restructured their offensive line in the offseason. Reynolds threw for 2,684 yards and 26 touchdowns on 215-of-337 passing with nine picks, and Charlotte returns its top three receivers in Grant DuBose, Tucker and Elijah Spencer, as well as all of its regular production from throughout the 2021 season at running back with Camp and Shadrick Byrd.

The 49ers’ defensive struggles led to coaching changes on that side of the ball, including a new coordinator. Charlotte allowed 34 points per game in 2021, which was only better among C-USA teams than Rice and FIU. The 465 yards it allowed per game were only better than FIU’s 491.3 in the league.

WKU’s victory over Charlotte last season was its third straight and fourth in five meetings all-time. The 49ers’ one win over the Hilltoppers came in WKU’s 3-9 2018 season at Jerry Richardson Stadium, which currently seats 15,314 but will be expanded in the future as part of Phase I of the school’s EverGreen Athletics Facilities Master Vision announced in May.

The Nov. 5 game between WKU and Charlotte is scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. CT and will be televised by CBS Sports Network.

“I think the team has a chance to be special. I don’t think there’s a position that we have that we don’t have the talent to be great and win and win because of,” Healy said. “Do we reach our potential? Do we work like that? That’s yet to be seen. Do we have the potential to be a really good football team? Yeah. Do we have really good leadership that we’ve never had before? Yes. Do we have a team that is starting to hold each other accountable and we’re creating some consistency and some really good competition? Yes.

“I’m excited, but I think we have a really, really good schedule. Every week is an opportunity to win a massive football game, and what we do between now and that first game will be really important.”{&end}