Senior linebacker for Florida Atlantic. 2020: 39 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, 8 sacks.
6′3″ · 220 lb · Apopka, FL
Recruiting
WDE recruit
No. 2613 nationally · Signed with Florida Atlantic
Statement game10 tackles · 4 TFL · 3 sacksvs Charlotte (FBS) · W 21-17
Top 1% tackles for loss game since 2021.
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
4 linebacker for Florida Atlantic. 2020: 39 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, 8 sacks.
Leighton McCarthy
Leighton McCarthy has been at Florida Atlantic through two head coaches in four seasons. His first career honor landed in 2020: All-Conference USA. One game to point at: 10 tackles, 4 TFL against Charlotte — Week 5, 2020.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
How it ended
Four seasons at Florida Atlantic, 159 tackles — his college career is complete.
His career
Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.
Career arc
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE USA · 2ND TEAM
All-Conference USA 2nd team (2020)
Coaching lineage · 2017–2020
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Lane Kiffin → Willie Taggart. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
Season context · Team result + system
Where this defender ranks vs the field
Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort
Elite: sacks (99th percentile). Strength: qb hurries (99th percentile). Concern: passes defended (21st percentile).
Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.
Splits · Per-game
2020 season · 8 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 4.8 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 5.0 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-71g | 10.0 | 4.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+7g | 4.1 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Zach Kittley
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.
Player standing · 2020
Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Florida Atlantic | 39 | 19 | 11.5 | 8.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2019 | Florida Atlantic | 30 | 14 | 10.5 | 6.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2018 | Florida Atlantic | 39 | 15 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 1 | -- | -- |
| 2017 | Florida Atlantic | 51 | 28 | 9.0 | 4.5 | 1 | 1 | -- |
| Career | 159 | 76 | 34.0 | 19.0 | 2 | 1 | -- |
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 10 · 2020
W 10–6
3 TOT · 1 SOLO · 0 SACKS
A wire-to-wire battle — won by 4 at home.
With M. Hayball — 1 SOLO · 1 TOT · 45 AVG · V. Rivas — 40 LONG · 100 PCT · 4 PTS
Game log · Week-by-week
2020 season · 8 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 5 | W 21-17vs Charlotte | 10 | 5 | 4.0 | 3.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 10 tackles |
| Wk 8 | L 9-20@ Marshall | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 24-3vs UTSA | 4 | 3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 10-6vs Western Kentucky | 3 | 1 | 1.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 38-19@ Florida International | 4 | 2 | 1.5 | 1.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 24-2vs Massachusetts | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 3-20@ Georgia Southern | 8 | 3 | 1.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 15 | L 31-45@ Southern Miss | 6 | 3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 39 | 19 | 11.5 | 8.0 | — | 0 |
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
39 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 11.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.