EMCC football has two All-Americans

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – East Mississippi Community College sophomores Jason Brownlee and Terence Cherry have been named 2019 NJCAA Football All-Americans.

Products of West Point High School, Brownlee was named to the NJCAA's first team while Cherry picked up second-team honors. The selections were made by the NJCAA Football Committee and announced Tuesday by the NJCAA national office headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Previously chosen as the 2019 MACJC North Division's Most Valuable Player among offensive backs and named to the All-Region 23 Team, Brownlee led the NJCAA with 75 pass receptions this past season. He also ranked second nationally with 1,055 receiving yards and 12 touchdown catches in 10 games played. This year, Brownlee posted five 100-yard receiving efforts and had at least one touchdown catch during all nine regular-season contests.

On defense for the 6-4 and 14th-ranked Lions, Cherry was EMCC's top pass rusher this past year with a team-leading 12 tackles for loss, including eight quarterback sacks, among his 29 total tackles on the year. The All-MACJC North Division and NJCAA All-Region 23 defensive end also led the Lions with three forced fumbles in 2019. For his EMCC career, Cherry had 16 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, including a dozen sacks, along with forcing five fumbles.



EMCC has now produced a total of 34 NJCAA All-Americans during Coach Buddy Stephens' 12 seasons at the Lions football helm, including nine quarterbacks and eight defensive linemen. Former EMCC All-America defensive linemen Denico Autry and Za'Darius Smith are currently starring for the NFL's Indianapolis Colts and Green Bay Packers, respectively.

During the past dozen seasons under Stephens' guidance, East Mississippi has had 13 players named to the NJCAA All-America first team along with a dozen second-team honorees and nine honorable mention recipients. In addition, the Lions have turned out first-team NJCAA All-America wide receivers during each of the past two years with Brownlee following in the footsteps of 2018 EMCC recipient and current Ole Miss pass catcher Dontario Drummond.