NEXT!

Charlotte, which sent six players to the NFL this summer, is preparing for its first season without its First Class. Household names like Ogunjobi (Cleveland Browns), Duke (Carolina Panthers) and Phillips (Green Bay Packers) are gone.

So who will be the fan favorites in 2017?

Each week, we will take a look at a player whose name you could be chanting this fall!

75 – EUGENE GERMAN, R-Sr.; OL; Martinsburg, W.Va.

Sometimes, you run into a player that you just like.

He's an offensive lineman. He's big and strong and started seven games last year. He's one of three returning starters on the O-Line. Most of you know Jamal Covington and Casey Perry and Thomas La Bianca. They basically started each of our first three years and built an O-Line that sprung the likes of Kalif Phillips on long rushes. They were members of the first class.

You've heard less about German. He was part of the second class. But he made a couple starts as a sophomore before securing a regular role last year. He's played in 23 career games and made nine starts. Last year, he made seven starts and played in eight games, before missing the final four with injury. The O-Line took some serious hits late in the season, last year. German was one of them.

He's been there beside those veteran linemen for three years. He's earned his reps and his starting role and now as a senior it's his turn.

He was a Dean's List student in the spring of 2016. He's personable, positive and extremely likeable.

And he's a veteran on an offensive line undergoing a certain level of change. He's been groomed by a strong set of mentors. He saw firsthand the impact of that first class. He worked beside them, often worked against them and ultimately worked with them.

Now, he's among the leaders. He's the old pro. He's the guy that will set the tone.

You may not have heard as much about him as you have those O-Line members of that first class.

You'll wish you had.

Thankfully, there's still one more year to get to know to him.