The Charlotte 49ers football program’s annual Green-White Spring Game will be at 6 p.m., Saturday, April 21, in Jerry Richardson Stadium. It will conclude the 49ers’ 2018 spring season. Charlotte is preparing for its sixth season of football and fourth at the FBS level as a member of Conference USA.
General admission tickets for the spring game are $10 and are available at charlotte49ers.com or by calling 704-687-4949; 2017 season ticket holders already have 2018 spring game tickets as part of their previous year’s season ticket package. For 2018, season ticket packages are on sale, starting at $100.
For the spring game and the baseball contests this weekend, the Charlotte 49ers Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will collect items to benefit communities affected by recent tornadoes.
The Charlotte 49ers open the 2018 season with three home games: Sept. 1 vs. Fordham, Sept. 8 vs. Appalachian State and Sept. 15 vs. Old Dominion in the C-USA opener. The 49ers will host C-USA foe WKU in the program’s annual Homecoming Game, Oct. 13. Charlotte will host Southern Miss, Oct. 27 and FIU in the final home game of the season, Nov. 17.
Sixth-year head coach Brad Lambert returns 18 starters from 2017, including 10 on the defensive side of the ball and eight on offense. Returning starters include the team’s quarterback and leading scorer Hasaan Klugh (10 passing TD; 9 rushing TD) and leading rusher Benny LeMay (9th in C-USA, 723 yards). Leading receiver Mark Quattlebaum (31 catches, 343 rec. yards) and leading tacklers Jeff Gemmell (106 tackles) and DB Ben DeLuca (102 tackles) are returning, too.
Charlotte returns four players that earned all-Conference USA Honorable Mention honors last year: junior OL Nate Davis, junior LB Juwan Foggie, sophomore LB Jeff Gemmell and sophomore DB Ben DeLuca.
DeLuca (4th, 9.3/gm) and Gemmell (5th 98.8/gm) both ranked in the top five in C-USA in tackles. DeLuca ranked second in tackles in C-USA games (10.9) while Gemmell was sixth (9.6). A former Freshman all-America, DeLuca became the first 49er to lead the nation in a statistical category when he recorded a school-record and NCAA-leading five forced fumbles (0.45/gm).
Charlotte returns 78 percent of its starts from 2017: 67 percent on offense (88 of 132 starts) and 89 percent on defense (117 of 132 starts). The 49ers 18 returning starters have amassed 242 career starts (13.4/starter).
Charlotte has nearly 50 players (48) from North Carolina, including 20 from the greater Charlotte area. Impact players from region include WR Workpeh Kofa (Charlotte, N.C./Independence), LB Anthony Butler (Charlotte, N.C./Vance), QB Hasaan Klugh (Concord, N.C./Central Cabarrus), RB Benny LeMay (Matthews, N.C./Butler), OL Chris Brown (Charlotte, N.C./Vance), who all started at least five games last year.