Excuse Me? Charlotte Coach Biff Poggi: Team Will Be Without 'Close To 50 Percent' Of Starters For JMU Opener

I have no idea what the Charlotte 49ers were doing over the past four weeks of fall camp, but it sounds like they put in a little too much work as they prepared for the 2024 season. 

Known as one of the best dressers in college football, I'm kidding by the way, Charlotte head coach Biff Poggi said that his team will be without close to 50% of its starters for the season opener against James Madison on Saturday. 

That is an insane number of players to be without, especially when coaches are doing their best to keep their star players from getting hurt or banged up during fall camp. After week two of camp, usually coaches are working on their depth, and not running their players into the ground. But obviously injuries do happen in this contact sport, though not having eight or nine starters is a wild number. 

"We have come out of camp pretty banged up, unfortunately," Biff Poggi mentioned to reporters this week. "We have definitely eight and probably nine starters injured. I'm not great at math, but it is getting close to 50%. When you open with JMU, a program that's 19-4 over the last couple of years, you can get a little overzealous. You have to balance between that callus that you want the players to have and getting them healthy. I get an F-minus on that for this camp."

Charlotte 49ers Schedule Doesn’t Help The Situation

Besides the fact that James Madison will obviously present a tough challenge for Charlotte this weekend, the 49ers will play North Carolina in the second week of the season. Unfortunately for the team, it doesn't sound like Biff Poggi will have most of his starters back for that game against the TarHeels. 

"It'll take at least the first three games for us to get back to full health," Biff Poggi noted. "I feel bad for the youngsters. I feel very bad for those kids, but I know that the young kids will get an opportunity to play, and they will play hard. I take responsibility for that as the head football coach."

Charlotte head coach Biff  Poggi says that his team will be without close to 50% of their starters for opener (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Well, they should feel bad. Look, i get that injuries happen during camp, which is why a majority of coaches will try to wrap their stars in bubble-wrap after a few weeks of conditioning and pad-popping. But how these injuries occurred is the question I have right now. 

Did this happen in the weight-room, on the practice field or during the strength and conditioning portion of camp? 

Coming off a 3-9 season, the 49ers are hoping to turn the corner in American Athletic Conference in 2024. But without that many starters, the likelihood of catching two losses to open the season is pretty high.