Charlotte redshirt junior Victor Tucker was named 2020 Second Team all-Conference USA to highlight a school-record total of 10 Niners nabbing league honors.
Tucker was the 49ers leading receiver for the third straight year. He pulled in 30 catches for 400 yards and two touchdowns in six games played. He ranked fourth in C-USA with a 66.7 receiving average and fifth with 3.0 catches per game.
A 2020 Biletnikoff Watch Lister as a candidate for the nation’s top receiver, Tucker now ranks second all-time for the 49ers with 2,021 career receiving yards. His 11 career receiving TDs rank third all-time. He has 10 career 100-yard receiving games, including seven in 12 C-USA games over the last two years. He has caught a pass in 13 straight games and made 21 consecutive starts for the 49ers. In 2019, he made history by recording the 49ers first-ever touchdown in a bowl game.
Tucker is the 12th 49er to earn first or second team all-C-USA honors in Charlotte’s six years in the league. Tucker was named honorable mention all-C-USA in 2019
Nine other 49ers were named Honorable Mention all-Conference USA. On Offense, quarterback Chris Reynolds, who passed for 217.5 yards per game and eight TDs, running back Aaron McAllister, who became the first 49ers to score a rushing, receiving and return TD all in the same season, and offensive lineman Jaelin Fisher, a three-year starting center who was an Outland and Rimington Award Watch Lister, all earned honorable mention.
Five 49ers received honorable mention on defense. Defensive tackle Timmy Horne, a three-year starter who collected his 100th career tackles in 2020; defensive end Romeo McKnight, a transfer from Illinois State who was fifth on the team in tackles and led the 49ers with 5.0 tackles for loss; defensive Tyriq Harris, a four-year starter and three-time team captain who ranks in the 49ers all-time top seven in career tackles, TFL and sacks; linebacker Tyler Murray, a first-year transfer who lead the 49ers in tackles and had two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery; and safety Ben DeLuca, a four-year starter who became the 49ers all-time leader in career tackles.
On special teams, punter Connor Bowler, who ranked fourth in the league with a single-season school-record 44.4 punting average and broke a school record with four punts of 50 or more yards in a game, earned an honorable mention nod.
Freshmen Taylor Thompson and Colby Garfield also were named to the Conference USA all-Freshman team in a vote by the league’s coaches.
Thompson, who was named to the FWAA Freshman all-America Watch List, played in all six games and made four starts at tight end. He was third on the team with 12 catches and 190 receiving yards, averaging 15.8 yards per catch and 31.7 yards per game. He caught one touchdown pass. Six of his 12 catches were for 15 or more yards, including a 41-yarder at nationally-ranked Appalachian State, a 33-yarder vs. WKU and his 15-yard touchdown catch vs. North Texas.
Garfield was the 49ers starting long snapper for the bulk of the 2020 season. He played in four of the 49ers’ six games, snapping on both punts and field goals.