Bell Brings It

SMU’s Young Cornerback Ready For Challenges

For foes who plan on targeting SMU’s 5-10, 170-pound cornerback Derrius Bell - who’s yet to start a college game - his former high school coach offers this counsel:

“He’s been in that position before, where people are going to look at him and they’re going to pick on him,” said Mike Robinson, Bell’s head coach at both Wilmer-Hutchins and Dallas Hillcrest. “But he’s going to make them pay for it.”

Bell emerged from spring drills as SMU's starting left corner, opposite veteran Bryan McCann.

Robinson, now head coach at North Mesquite, doesn’t lack for adjectives when describing Bell. “Pound for pound, he is the most feisty, competitive, tenacious football player that I’ve probably ever coached.”

“He’s a warrior.”

Bell, a sophomore this fall, welcomes the possible extra attention. “I really do think I’m going to be a target,” he said recently before an afternoon workout. “I think they’ll probably throw away from [junior corner] Bryan [McCann]. But …, if all goes well, it will be a benefit for me.”

“And they’ll end up going back to Bryan’s side,” he grinned.

McCann started every game last year and led the team in interceptions (4). “He’s always been more like a big brother,” Bell said, “just walking me through everything, teaching me a little here, a little there about how the game’s going to be if I actually get in.”

Memphis Highlight

Bell played in nine games as a true freshman last year, with a season-best outing in the finale at Memphis - six tackles, one pass breakup and an overall tough presence. “I actually felt I could have done that the whole season,” Bell said.

Robinson is not surprised Bell saw so much action his first year at SMU. “He doesn’t want to be on the bench,” he said. “He doesn’t want to sit.”

SMU’s defense gave up over 300 yards passing per game last year, 10 th in C-USA. Improvement is a must if the Mustangs are to move up in ’08. Bell’s development as a starter could be decisive.

“I think [Bell’s] done an outstanding job,” said SMU secondary coach Derrick Odum. “I know he’s a younger guy, but he’s older than his years.”

Said Bell, “I believe, 100%, that our defense is better [this year] at every position.”

“With the offense that we have, I think we’ll be way more aggressive in the secondary, because we know we’re going to able to score a lot. … If you think you can get it, go get the ball. It’s that simple.”

Bell and company get tested early, opening against Rice’s All-American wideout Jarrett Dillard and quarterback Chase Clement, who rewrote the Owls’ passing record book last year.

Two weeks later comes Texas Tech with consensus All-American receiver Michael Crabtree and Sammy Baugh Trophy-winning quarterback Graham Harrell. Last year, in Dallas, Harrell blitzed SMU for 419 passing yards and Crabtree nabbed 12 throws for 106 yards.

“That’s going to be a challenge for anybody,” Bell said of facing the Red Raiders. “I’m going out there just as I’m going out, actually, for the first game [against Dillard.]”

“He had a lot of time on his hands,” Bell said of Harrell’s last outing against SMU. “He’s a good passer, of course. Texas Tech quarterbacks will always be good passers.”

Said Odum, “This whole season, [the corners are] going to be challenged - each and every week. Everybody in the stands can see when those corners don’t do well.”

Prep ‘Missile-Man’

Bell said he believes SMU's defense is better this year "at every position." PHOTO: SMU Athletics

“At Wilmer-Hutchins,” Robinson said, “we played [ Bell] on the varsity as a 135-40-pound freshman. I padded him up so much - neck braces, neck rolls- because I was afraid he was going to hurt himself. He will throw his body around like a missile.”

The next year, Robinson said, opposing teams evidently still saw him as inexperienced and small. “So they picked on him. And he ended up with nine interceptions.”

After Wilmer-Hutchins was closed by the state in ’05, Bell enrolled in Grace Preparatory Academy in Arlington, where he led the Lions to the TAPPS Division II state championship. In his first game for Grace Prep, Bell made a leaping one-handed interception on a deep ball that still amazes his friends.

“I think that would be my greatest play and something that I will remember forever,” he said. Bell was reunited with Robinson at Hillcrest for his senior year.

Robinson says Bell reminds him of another small corner, former NFL pro Kevin Mathis, who played ten years with Dallas, New Orleans and Atlanta. “[Mathis] was no bigger than Derrius,” Robinson said. “Just the tenacity that they bring to the field, that’s what will carry [ Bell] on to the next level also.”

Recruited by TCU, Baylor, Kansas and others, Bell said he picked SMU to stay close to home and to have a part in finally turning things around on the Hilltop. “This year, if everything goes well, I think it’ll be happening,” he said.

Prime U

Bell was one of several Mustangs who took part in Deion Sanders’ Prime U workouts at SMU in May. “Deion taught us a couple of techniques that he used that everybody thought he was just being pretty on us or something like that,” Bell said. “But it really was helpful to us.”

Pacman Jones impressed Bell, as well. “Him being my size and showing the swagger that he had, it just really kind of motivated me,” Bell said. “He’s the fastest guy coming out of his back pedal that I’ve seen, personally.”

Bell said the toughest part of playing corner is recovering after giving up the big play. “I just hope for that next play to come as quickly as it can,” Bell said. “I’m pretty good at letting it go. I got caught a couple of times back when I was in high school.”

“I think I can do it all,” he said. “I know the receivers are going to come out, definitely if they’re bigger, and they’re going to think I’m undersized. But they’ll find out soon how aggressive I am when the game starts.”

Bell’s goal for each game this year? For his assigned receiver to go home muttering, “Man, this little guy really did me like that?”

> Check out the CUSA Fans SMU Mustangs 2008 football preview to see what SMU Correspondent Rick Atkinson thinks of the Mustangs in 2008!

Derrius Bell Notes:

• Bell was ranked the 12th best corner prospect in the nation by ESPN.com and rated three stars from Rivals.com.
• Bell’s nickname since childhood: Bay-Bay