Johnson C. Smith's The Cut emerges as offseason hub for NFL talent

The Cut at Johnson C. Smith has gone from campus practice field to offseason destination, with NFL players and high-level prospects now treating Eddie C. McGirt Field as a place to train in Charlotte. What started as a turf project in 2023 is now feeding the school’s football identity, giving the Golden Bulls a surface, a setting and a reputation that travel well beyond game day.

The transformation began when JCSU replaced the grass at McGirt Field with FieldTurf in April 2023. While the work was underway, the Golden Bulls practiced at West Charlotte High School and even held a spring workout at Bank of America Stadium on April 6 after the Panthers approved the request. Hours before the first home practice on the new surface on April 13, FieldTurf officials turned the completed project over to JCSU, and the program returned to a field that now mirrors the kind of environment players expect at the next level.

That environment has mattered. Former JCSU and NFL running back Emanuel Wilson worked there alongside Fabian Duncan, and the traffic around the field kept growing from there. Charlotte native KC Concepcion used the hill at McGirt Field during pre-draft workouts before becoming a first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns. Xavier Legette was also spotted working there with Kelvin Durham, the quarterback who helped deliver JCSU’s first CIAA championship since 1969. Those names have turned a local campus surface into a place that carries real football weight.

The impact goes deeper than celebrity visits. Athletics director Steve Joyner framed the upgrades as part of a push to attract more student-athletes, and coach Maurice Flowers said the new facilities would place JCSU near the top of Division II and HBCU football in amenities. The turf is only one piece of a broader modernization effort that also includes a new weight room, locker room and other improvements designed to make the program look and feel more complete to recruits and transfers.

That pitch is getting stronger because the results on the field have followed the upgrades. Flowers was named CIAA Coach of the Year in 2024 after JCSU’s 8-2 season, then guided the Golden Bulls to their first CIAA championship game since 1972 in 2025 and their first conference title since 1969. McGirt Field, inside the Irwin Belk Complex that opened in 2003 and seats 4,500, now carries both its history and its future. The field named for Eddie McGirt, who coached JCSU from 1959 to 1977 and won the school’s only CIAA title in 1969, has become the kind of place where pro ambition, HBCU pride and recruiting credibility all meet on the same surface.