Charlotte 49ers redshirt junior defensive end Tyriq Harris has been named to the 2018 InTouch Credit Union Conference USA all-Academic Team for excelling both on and off the football field. Harris was named to the team for the second straight year and is one of five repeat selections on the 11-player team.
One of the 49ers’ four team co-captains, Harris has a 3.63 GPA as a biology major. He was named Google Cloud Academic all-District 3 by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), this month.
Harris started all 12 games, this season, for a defensive unit that ranked 25th in the nation in total defense (337.3 yards allowed/game) and 11th in rushing defense (105.7 rushing yards allowed/game). Charlotte set school records for wins as an FBS program and in C-USA play.
Harris moved from outside linebacker to defensive end this season and produced career highs with 56 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss (TFL) and 2.5 sacks. He was fifth on the team in tackles and third in TFL. He added a fumble recovery, QB hurry and pass break-up.
Harris was named to the 2016 C-USA all-Freshman team and was selected for the C-USA all-Academic Team in 2017. He moved into the program’s all-time top 10 with 149 career tackles to rank seventh. He shares a 49ers’ single-game record with four QB hurries and is tied for fourth all-time in career sacks (6.0).
He has been selected to the 2016, 2017 and 2018 C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll and is on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Executive Board. He participated in the APPLE conference that encourages student-athletes to take steps to prevent drug and alcohol abuse on campus. He’s a member of the 49ers’ Athletics Diversity Committee and has landed on the school’s Dean’s (3.4+) or Chancellor’s List (3.8+) in five of his six semesters.
Harris is the second 49ers’ football player be named to the C-USA all-Academic Team. QB Lee McNeill was named to the team in 2015 and 2016.
2018 InTouch Credit Union C-USA Football All-Academic Team
*Tyriq Harris, Charlotte, R-Jr., 3.63, Biology
Harrison Bryant, Florida Atlantic, Jr., 3.676, Health Administration
Ethan Reed, Louisiana Tech, R-Jr., 3.43, Mechanical Engineering
*Brent Stockstill, Middle Tennessee, RS-Sr., 3.699, Leisure Sport & Tourism
Mason Fine, North Texas, Jr., 3.333, Entrepreneurship
*Riley Mayfield, North Texas, R-Sr., 3.823, Master’s in Business Administration
*Oshane Ximines, Old Dominion, Sr., 3.33, Finance
Picasso Nelson, Jr., Southern Miss, Gr., 3.94, Master’s in Business Administration
Jamell Garcia-Williams, UAB, Sr., 3.29, English
Yannis Routsas, UTSA, R-Sr., 3.51, Mechanical Engineering/Mathematics
*Tyler Witt, WKU, R-So., 3.71, Mechanical Engineering
*Repeat selections