The New Charlotte football head coach Brad Lambert read the name on a piece of paper hot off the fax machine.
"Will Thomas," Lambert said, "he wanted to be first; he is first."
With the name of the dynamic high school receiver read by the coach in the early morning of National Signing Day in Feburary 2012, it meant one thing-- football had officially arrived at Charlotte.
"I wanted to be the first one to sign," Thomas said, "I wanted to be apart of something that no one else will get to be a part of."
It takes time, and patience, to start a program from the ground up. In the team’s first meeting with their coach, players knew exactly what was expected out of them as the first signing class of the 49ers.
"We’re here for one reason; to build this program and build the brand," Lambert said. "Coaches, players; this isn’t about me or I… it is about our team."
Coach Lambert wasn’t willing to use the excuse that many new football programs have used. He wanted his team to come out fighting from the first day of practice, and after a year and half of preparation, he was finally back to doing what he does best—coaching.
"We get one chance to start, we want to make sure we start the right way and we represent this brand in the right way," Lambert said. "Establishing that from day one was important for me because this is who we are and we want to represent our university in a first class manner. "
As the days crept closer to the first full practice, Lambert and the 49ers strength and conditioning coach Jim Durning stressed to the new team that they must be accountable for how they prepare for games on their own time with proper weight training and nutrition.
"Whatever it takes to win; we are going to do it," During said.
Despite all the talk and planning leading up to it, there was nothing like throwing on a jersey and heading out to the field for the first time as a team.
And what did the coach say was in store for the first day of practice in full pads?
"Oh we are going to hit on each other a little bit today." Lambert said with a tone of excitement.
