When UNC football faces Charlotte, the 49ers will be without their starting quarterback
When No. 12 North Carolina faces Chartlotte on Saturday, the 49ers will be without their starting quarterback.
Chris Reynolds is out with an “upper body” injury that he suffered against Appalachian State on Sept. 12, according to Charlotte coach Will Healy.
Transfer Dom Shoffner, who started his career at N.C. Central, will start in Reynolds’ place against the Tar Heels.
Reynolds completed 11 of 30 passes for 140 yards and two interceptions and rushed for 34 yards in the loss against the Mountaineers.
Healy said Reynolds is out indefinitely and was injured on the first play of the game. Healy threw an incomplete pass to Micaleous Elder on the play, but was hurried by the Mountaineers’ Nick Hampton. Reynolds kept the ball on the next two plays, including a fumble on third down that he recovered. He would play the entire game.
“Chris tried to fight through it,” Healy said “He’s as tough as nails.”
Healy did not elaborate on what Reynolds’ injury is.
“Here’s my deal, I don’t want to talk about exactly what it is, because I don’t want this to be something down the road that people know about and go after him,” Healy said. “I’m not saying coaches do that. But it’s something that’s going to prohibit him from being able to play this week. Obviously he wants to play. He’s one of the toughest I’ve ever been around.”
Chris Reynolds’ replacement once played at NC Central
Shoffner, who is from Cary, played in six games for N.C. Central in 2018, throwing for 350 yards and rushing for 128. Healy said when the Eagles went through a coaching change, Shoffner decided to transfer to Monroe (N.Y.) College, where he threw for 2,488 yards and 27 touchdowns last season on the junior college level. He also rushed for 441 yards and scored 14 touchdowns.
“Dom’s prepared like the starter,” Healy said. “He’s done some really good things. He’ll get a bunch of reps (with the first team) and we’re going to figure out what he feels comfortable with and be able to design an offense around him.”
Shoffner (6-0, 209 pounds) is bigger than Reynolds (5-11, 192).
“He can execute really well with some of our (run, pass, option) stuff,” Healy said. “He throws a really good deep ball and he’s got a good presence about him.
“He just happened to go up against a guy (in Reynolds) that we thought was an all-conference-type player. So we felt really good about both of them. Now it’s Dom’s time to step up and take the lead.”
Healy also said defensive end Markees Watts is questionable for Saturday’s game with a lower body injury.
49ers linebacker Luke Martin said the team will obviously miss Reynolds, for however long he’s out.
“It was a huge loss,” Martin said. “But we know Dom ... was made to step in at any time. He’s a leader. We all trust Dom, but not having Chris out there does hurt. Just because of the person he is and the leader he is. But we believe Dom can come in and play a really good game Saturday.”
Said running back Aaron McAllister: “(Shoffner) knows he’s the next guy and anything can happen. We just need him to be ready to focus in. We just need him to play his game.”
Charlotte at UNC
When: 3:30 p.m., Saturday
Where: Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill
Watch: RSN
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 1:23 PM.