Athletics

Will Healy, an Eddie Robinson Award winner as the National FCS Coach of the Year, has been selected as the head football coach for the Charlotte 49ers. Healy, who has coached at Austin Peay State University for the last three years, is known for infusing energy and enthusiasm in his program, engineering one of the greatest turnarounds in college football history.

Eight Charlotte 49ers have earned 2018 all-Conference USA honors. RS-junior defensive end Alex Highsmith grabbed first team all-C-USA honors, while junior running back Benny LeMay, redshirt senior offensive lineman Nate Davis, redshirt senior linebacker Juwan Foggie and freshman kicker Jonathan Cruz were named to the second team. Redshirt senior tight end Chris Phillips, redshirt junior defensive end Tyriq Harris and junior defensive back Ben DeLuca received honorable mention.

The 49ers also had four players named to the 2018 C-USA all-Freshman Team.

Charlotte 49ers redshirt junior defensive end Tyriq Harris has been named to the 2018 InTouch Credit Union Conference USA all-Academic Team for excelling both on and off the football field. Harris was named to the team for the second straight year and is one of five repeat selections on the 11-player team.

One of the 49ers’ four team co-captains, Harris has a 3.63 GPA as a biology major. He was named Google Cloud Academic all-District 3 by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), this month.

Charlotte 49ers redshirt junior defensive end Alex Highsmith is known for creating havoc in opposing teams’ backfields.    
    
In the 49ers’ season finale, a come-from-behind 27-24 victory at defending C-USA champion Florida Atlantic, Highsmith had a career-high 10 tackles, including a school-record tying 4.5 tackles for loss (TFL). He also forced a fumble.
 

Charlotte 49ers redshirt senior offensive lineman Nate Davis has accepted an invitation to the 2019 Reese’s Senior Bowl.

Fall is the time of year when family and friends gather and play touch football in the backyard. Some of the risks of the game–but likely not all of them–can be reduced by thoroughly warming up and stretching beforehand.

Here’s what to do if you or a family member suffers one of these common injuries during this year’s Turkey Bowl.

Ankle sprains

Charlotte 49ers Director of Athletics Mike Hill has announced that Brad Lambert will not be retained as head football coach.

 “We’ve decided to make a change in our football program,” said Hill. “It is a decision I made after an opportunity to assess my first football season here. It’s about the trajectory of the program and putting us in the best position for the future. We elected to make this decision now so that we could begin the search immediately.”

The UNC Charlotte Wind Ensemble, joined by the University Chorale and the Pride of Niner Nation Marching Band, will present “For Heroes Proved: A Veterans Day Concert” at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 11, at Ovens Auditorium.

From the loss of lives to the loss of property, Hurricane Florence has devastated the Carolinas. It will not be easy for storm victims in North and South Carolina to rebuild their lives, and they will deal with the hurricane’s effects for some time.

UNC Charlotte is organizing various collection drives to assist those impacted by the storm.

Nonprofit organization ACEing Autism will hold tennis clinics at UNC Charlotte beginning Sunday, Sept. 30.

According to Nils Weldy, marketing director for the organization, ACEing Autism is a national nonprofit that provides tennis clinics specially designed by autism and tennis professionals to encourage social interaction between peers and volunteers, improve physical fitness and allow for flexibility within the clinics to ensure children have fun.