Charlotte's in a "Good" Quarter Back Situation, for Now

How Chris Reynolds will be Charlotte's top Leader this Fall

Photo: CBS

Most of us can remember the 2017 season…. It was terrible. The Forty-Niners finished 1-11 under the inaugural coach, Brad Lambert. If you remember, this was around the time that the #FireJudyRose movement started to take flight after such a disappointing season and Lambert was officially on the hot seat. 

The biggest question that lingered around the program was “Where are we going to find a new quarterback?”. Charlotte’s QB at the time was Hasaan Klugh and after the 2017 and 2018 season, Charlotte fans were tired of seeing all the interceptions and fumbles from our starting QB and a lack of asserted leadership on the field.

After the 5-7 2018 season, Brad Lambert left as Head Football Coach, and the new Athletic Director, Mike Hill, appointed Austin Peay’s Head Coach, Will Healy. Healy was a former QB himself at Richmond and was apart of the 2008 FCS National Championship team. 

The 2018 season also introduced us to a new QB named Chris Reynolds from Mocksville, NC. At first, by my recollection, his start was not a pretty one with shaky performances, but he was let down by a shaky offensive line many times. There was not a lot of apparent confidence in the position at the time, but Healy’s leadership and his phenomenal coaching staff were coming in to change the narrative. 

With so many questions ahead of the 2019 season, it was apparent that the Redshirt Sophomore Reynolds was going to be our starting QB against Miami transfer, Evan Shirreffs. 

After coasting by Gardener-Webb and U Mass, the QB connection between Reynolds and the receiver core looked promising, but running back Benny LeMay was the star of the offense. But the season turned sour after seven games, the Forty-Niners were 2-5. 

Reynolds was our QB No.1 and with good performances against App State and a rushed touch down against Clemson, signs of his talents began to shine. The biggest issue we could see on the field was confidence as a unit.

 The other QB’s on the bench were not getting much time, but Reynolds began to show his leadership during the comeback win against North Texas. After the 34 yard connection with Victor Tucker to win the game with 18 seconds left, the Niners made a three-touchdown comeback at home against the “Mean Green”. 

This is the obvious turning point of the season for Charlotte. Reynolds began to show us his dual-threat action against North Texas with a 3 TD, 336 passing, and 96 rushing yard game (averaging 12 yards per carry). The 5-10 QB was showing his talent from inside and outside the pocket and could be unpredictable against defenses under pressure. 

The next three games against Middle Tennessee, UTEP, and Marshall saw Reynolds rush a total of 340 yards for 2 TDs and passing for over 500 yards. QB No. 1 was showing out and began gaining national attention on social media for his duel threat action. 

The game against Marshall proved to be his best performance yet. On that rainy night, Reynolds rushed for a total of 145 yards for 1 TD and passed for 166 for 1 TD. It was the 4th quarter 4th down touchdown madness thrown by Reynolds that bought Charlotte’s ticket to our first bowl game. It was this game that proved that Reynolds had developed into the QB Charlotte was missing. His performance and leadership under pressure was the missing piece in the team. While not much can be said for the other QBs on the sideline, playing-wise, the unit, and play-calling as a QB team have been vital in the rise of success for the Charlotte offense. 

Reynolds has proven to be Charlotte’s No.1 after last season and has now gained national attention to be one of the top quarterbacks in the nation this Fall. This will be a huge role for someone to fill in the near future as there haven’t been any predominant QB recruits in the future (but this should change soon). 

Our offense looks like it will be strong this Fall as we retained our top receivers but lost our top running backs LeMay (NFL) and Finger (transfer). Hopefully, if we see football this Fall, Reynolds can continue to lead us to victory and maybe close to a conference championship.