Charlotte 49ers College Football Pregame Quote, 08/23/2022

Fun to be back up here with these two guys again. A blessing, it’s great to be back. Excited that it’s a game week. It feels like this time of year for me you have all these things that you still want to accomplish, so it catches up toyou quickly. It doesn’t really feel real until you have opportunities like this, and the radio show last night, it is starting to feel real.

We got an incredible opportunity for us and our program to be a spotlight of the opening weekend of college football. One of 11 games on national television, and an awesome opportunity against an awesome conference opponent. I vividly remember this time last year, a great opportunity for our football team. We had started hot and we knew it would be a difficult test after an off week, and they got after us especially in the second half. I have watched that film so many different times and gone back to the helpless feeling of that fourth quarter, and it’s been motivating for our guys. Playing FAU to start the season on the road as a heavy underdog against a team that is picked high in the conference, that a lot of people have to win the conference, is a great challenge and has caught our full attention.

Very proud of how these guys have gone through camp. It has been a difficult camp, a long, hard, and adverse camp, and these guys have responded. I think our leadership has been incredible, and we have made great strides. Now we will get to see how good of a team we really are this Saturday at 7 p.m..

On how important this season is to the program:

I think that this place has grown up really fast, and now you’re in another growth process. Everything has happened so fast. I think you’re getting to the point where you’re creating some stabilization and you’re creating a foundation and then all of a sudden there comes another move, so we have to be prepared to catch up even faster and move quicker.

This is an extremely important year. It’s an important year for me because I want Chris Reynolds and Markees Watts to go out the way they deserve to go out, and that’s as winners. It’s an important year for me because I want the guyson our football team to have success. I want our coaches to enjoy the experience. I want our fanbase to be proud of what we’re putting on the field. But also know none of that happens unless these guys are bought into the moment and believe in the processthat gives you an opportunity. Also look at the schedule in front of us and understand that each and every week is a challenge, but the challenge brings each and every week an opportunity to win a massive game.