Charlotte 49ers' graduate defensive end Tyriq Harris ’19 has been named to the 2020 Wuerffel Trophy watch list. The Wuerffel Trophy is presented by the Chick-fil-A Foundation to the college football player who best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement.
This is the second straight season that Harris has been named to the Wuerffel Trophy watch list. He was named to the 2019 list but missed the season with injury. Harris graduated cum laude with a degree in biology last spring and has served as a team captain in 2018 and 2019. Despite missing the season, Harris received the team’s Coaches’ Award following a first-ever bowl season for the positive impact he continued to have on the team.
Community Service
Off the field, Harris has been a member of the 49ers’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and served as a committee officer during the 2019-20 athletics season. For each of the last three years, Harris has been named the SAAC’s “Mr. 49er,” an award presented by the committee that recognizes the outstanding participation of a male student-athlete.
Harris has twice attended the APPLE Training Institute, a program designed to promote student-athlete wellness and substance abuse prevention on college campuses. He regularly visits Elevation eKidz, the children’s ministry of Elevation Church for children six weeks through fifth grade and has visited students at Weddington Hills and Devonshire Elementary Schools. He has volunteered at various special events in the area, such as the YMCA Miracle League All-Star Game, Tim Tebow’s Night to Shine, Charlotte’s Dance Marathon and the Harrisburg 4th of July Parade.
Academic Excellence
Thanks to his efforts in the classroom, Harris, who graduated with a 3.67 GPA, was named to the 2017 and 2018 all-Conference USA Academic Teams and made the C-USA Honor Roll three times (2016, 2017, 2018). He was named to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic all-District 3 Team, as selected by CoSIDA.