There’s a reason the workouts don’t feel like offseason anymore. At Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU), the action this spring at Eddie C. McGirt Field — known around the HBCU program as “The Cut” — hasn’t slowed down. It’s evolved.
What started as a return-to-campus moment for Emanuel Wilson, working alongside JCSU running back Fabian Duncan, has quietly turned into something bigger: a consistent pipeline of NFL and high-level college talent choosing an HBCU field as their offseason base.
And if you’ve been around it — really around it — you can feel why.
Always Bigger Than Just a Field
Back in 2023, JCSU didn’t just replace grass with turf.
The HBCU partnered with the Carolina Panthers to install the same playing surface used at Bank of America Stadium. It was a functional upgrade, but it also changed perception.
Same city. Same surface. Different access point.
During that transition, JCSU practiced inside the Panthers’ stadium — a moment that now feels less like a one-off and more like the start of something bigger. That spring is captured in the opening chapter of Brick x Brick with JCSU Football, when the program was still building toward what it would become.
Now, three years later, the traffic has flipped.
And NFL players are getting their reps in at “The Cut.” A nickname given to the field in honor of legendary JCSU football head coach Eddie C. McGirt, aka “Coach Cut.”
Starting to Feel Like Home Base
In the lead-up to the 2026 NFL Draft, multiple pros and NFL prospects put cleats in the turf at Charlotte’s HBCU football home field.
Charlotte native KC Conception posted multiple pre-draft workouts from McGirt Field — including sessions on the steep hill that’s become part of the program’s identity. Days later, he became a first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns.
That detail matters.
This isn’t just a backdrop. It’s part of the process.
And it’s not isolated.
Xavier Legette was spotted putting in work at “The Cut” alongside Kelvin Durham, the quarterback who helped deliver JCSU football’s first CIAA title in over 50 years.
Even outside voices recognize it. When Concep[tion’s workout clip from the hill made its rounds, University of Tennessee offensive lineman David Sanders Jr. chimed in:
“I know that Johnson C. Smith hill from anywhere…” he dropped in the comments.
That’s not just branding. That’s familiarity.
Why This Field — and Why Now
Location plays a role.
Charlotte has quietly become one of the more productive pipelines for football talent in the country. NFL players come home. College stars train locally. And increasingly, they’re choosing a field just west of uptown — one that’s open, accessible, and now built to pro standards.
But infrastructure matters just as much.
The same turf. A central location. A program on the rise. And a space that isn’t locked behind exclusivity.
That combination is rare.
What It Looks Like From Behind the Lens
Filming this up close changes how you see it.
What might read as a few offseason workouts is actually something more layered: pros returning home, pouring into the next level of players, on a field that now meets them where they are.
The energy is different.
And the line between HBCU football and the NFL feels a little thinner than it used to.
The Bigger Picture Is Still Being Built
Brick x Brick with JCSU Football is now available on Prime Video— an HBCU Gameday Original series documenting the program’s rise from a perennial two-win team to CIAA champions.
Season 4 just wrapped its spring production.
And if this stretch of workouts is any indication, the backdrop has changed again.
Because “The Cut” isn’t just where JCSU trains anymore.
It’s where the Charlotte’s football culture intersects — from HBCU standouts to NFL talent — on an HBCU field that has stopped being overlooked…and has started becoming part of the routine.
Where NFL players don’t just come back home —They come back here.
And where “The Cut” isn’t just a nickname anymore.
It’s a premier destination.