No time to celebrate: 49ers prep for unique Rice offense 

MATT LACZKO | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Charlotte football coach Tim Albin praised quarterback Conner Harrell's performance in the 49ers' win against Monmouth, where Harrell overcame a poor first half to account for five touchdowns.

The Charlotte 49ers have turned the page after securing their first win of the season.

After a momentum win against FCS foe Monmouth, the 49ers (1-2) have a short turnaround before hosting Rice (2-1) Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Coach Tim Albin once again emphasized to media at a Tuesday press conference they celebrated what went well in the win, but there is a plethora of things to clean up. 

“I was just very honest with [the team] on Sunday after,” Albin said, “I got a chance to watch the film. I’ve never won a game where we had three turnovers and didn’t get any and 11 penalties. Never in my coaching career, and we’re going to have to get that corrected. The difference in that game was we were able to overcome those penalties that we were not able to overcome in the first or second game. We overcame three second-and-20s and several first-and-15s, I think. Obviously, that is great for the offense, but we aren’t going to make a living doing that.”

With a short week, the 49ers have less time to prepare for a Rice offense that revolves around the triple option. Albin pointed out that Charlotte needs to play their best to make it competitive. 

“We have prepped a little bit in the summer, looking at film a little bit in August, preparing for this short week,” he said. “It’s been very taxing. I’ll just tell you the truth. We are a morning practice team, and so we’ve been under the gun a little bit, coaches sleeping at the office, trying to make sure we’re ready to go. It’s a little cranky out there today. I felt sorry for some of the players, but we pushed through it, and we had a spirit of practice today. We’ll taper down a little bit tomorrow for this matchup, but it should be a heck of a ball game.”

Rice has two running backs that can be really dangerous in space. Quinton Jackson has 213 yards on the ground this season and two touchdowns. Daelen Alexander has 149 yards on 32 carries. Preparing for the triple option where Rice quarterback Chase Jenkins can be just as big a threat will be tough. 

“It's been challenging to get the timing of the motions,” Albin said, “the yo-yo motion, and all the way around, and to get that timed up to the staff. But again, we did some work in the summer and we’re in a good spot. But as a head coach, you just worry about the heaviness of the offensive line and the defensive line because they’re big. You have to adjust to that, and then the speed of it. That’s pretty much with any offense, but particularly when you're playing this one.”

Albin lauded improvement in Charlotte’s run game against Monmouth, specifically the performance of running back Rod Gainey Jr. 

“[Gainey] played his best game,” Albin said. “It was much needed. I thought he ran tough and finished the runs the right way. He showed some elusiveness, quickness and he was really unselfish. He is a very unselfish player. He’s accepted his role to this point and has been patient. As I mentioned in the presser [after the game], we had a situation late in that game where he could have scored. He could have walked in on second down. … He basically slid down right at the half-yard line. What an unselfish player he is to do that.” 

Charlotte quarterback Conner Harrell had his best performance by far against Monmouth, recording five all-purpose touchdowns. Afterward, he immediately focused on what the team could have done to be better. 

“[Harrell] has some great traits that you love as a quarterback,” Albin said. “I think Grasyon [Loftis] and Zach [Wilcke] do as well. But, obviously, for Conner, it was a tough halftime. For him to come out in the second half and stay the course, not get rattled, that is good. That is encouraging to your coaching staff and the team for him to have that confidence and not waiver. … There were a lot of good things that he did, and you have to be a strong-minded person to come out and do what he did after the three turnovers in the first half.”

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