BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University’s football team saw seven players earn All-Conference USA recognition by Phil Steele’s Magazine, as announced by the publication on Tuesday.
Defensively, senior DL/OLB Leighton McCarthy earned a spot on the Second Team after tallying 40 tackles and a conference-leading nine sacks. The Apopka, Florida native is currently ranked No. 5 nationally in sacks per game. Also recognized on the Second Team, at punt returner, was LaJohntay Wester, a freshman from Palmetto, Florida. The newcomer averaged 8.9 yards per punt in a team leading 10 attempts. In fact, he was the lone Owl to record a punt return in 2020.
Chase Lasater, a redshirt junior linebacker, was named to the Third Team. Lasater, from Orange Park, Florida, recorded a team-leading 72 tackles and was instrumental in the team’s third bowl appearance in four seasons. He recorded two forced fumbles in the Montgomery Bowl.
Fourth Team members included three defensive players and one on the offensive side of the ball. Redshirt sophomore Jaylen Joyner, a defensive end from Jacksonville, Florida, who tallied 40 tackles and had six sacks (No. 49 nationally) on the year as well as three quarterback hurries; redshirt junior captain and linebacker Ahman Ross, also from Jacksonville, was credited with 58 tackles, including 5.5 for a loss of 12 yards, as well as three pass breakups and two forced fumbles; and rounding out the defensive players was senior Zyon Gilbert, a Montgomery, Alabama native who made the move from safety to corner in 2020. Gilbert had 46 tackles, five pass breakups and returned his first INT of 2020 for 11 yards at the Montgomery Bowl.
Offensively, senior guard Desmond Noel was named to the Fourth Team after starting every 2020 contest. Noel, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, came to the Owls in 2019 and was instrumental in the team capturing its second C-USA Championship and second bowl game. In 2020, he was the lone Owl offensive starter to return, play the same position as the previous year, and start every game.
