Posted: Sep 03, 2020

TLU free safety James Bell named D3football.com Preseason All-American for second time

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran University senior safety James Bell (Houston/Lamar) has been named to the D3football.com Preseason All-America team for a second consecutive season.

A regular-season Second Team All-American as chosen by D3football.com in 2019, Bell has been a star free safety for the Bulldogs in each of his first three seasons.

Bell and the Bulldogs will play the 2020-21 season, a five-game schedule in the spring of 2021, starting with a Feb. 6 road game at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas.

Bell, a three-year starter at free safety for the Bulldogs, was named to Dave Campbell's Texas Football Small College Preseason Team, and he was named to the Draft Diamond Texas Small College NFL Draft Prospects list. Bell was ranked as the 51st-best free safety in college football and as the No. 2 free safety in NCAA Division III.

"It felt great to be noticed," said Bell. "I'm not going to settle with what I've accomplished, and I know the team will not settle with what we have done. There is more to do."

In 2019, Bell was a Second Team All-America pick by D3football.com and earned First Team All-ASC honors and D3football.com All-South Region honors for a third consecutive season. Bell racked up 48 tackles with an interception and a half-sack last season.

In his career, Bell has 11 career interceptions, 156 total tackles, nine pass break-ups, and one interception returned for a touchdown.

The Bulldogs are ranked 19th in the 2020 Street & Smith's Preseason Top 25 for NCAA Division III. TLU is coming off an 8-2 season and a second-place finish in the American Southwest Conference. TLU was 8-1 in conference play in 2019.

The Bulldogs were ranked in the Top 25 and in the regional rankings at times during the 2019 season, and TLU played for the conference championship on Nov. 9 at then-defending national champion Mary Hardin-Baylor.

TLU's eight wins in the ASC were the most by a Bulldog squad in the university's 18 seasons in the ASC (1998-2012, 2017-present).

The eight overall wins marked just the eighth time in TLU's 85 football seasons that the Bulldogs won that many games in a single season.

The Bulldogs were picked fourth in the 2019 ASC Preseason Football Poll. TLU was picked behind UMHB, Hardin-Simmons, and East Texas Baptist. TLU defeated ETBU on the road on Sept. 21 and then defeated then-No. 6 HSU on the road on Oct. 5. The win over HSU was the second win for TLU all-time at the Cowboys' Shelton Stadium.

The wins over ETBU and HSU were part of the Bulldogs' seven-game win streak entering the UMHB game.

Bell and the TLU defense combined with the TLU offense to produce a team turnover margin per game of plus-1.5. The Bulldogs' turnover margin ranked sixth in NCAA Division III.

The TLU defense also ranked 12th nationally in defensive touchdowns, with four, and ranked 23rd in fumbles recovered, with 12.

The Bulldog defense ranked 24th in sacks, at 3.2 per contest, and 30th in team tackles for loss, at 8.0 per game.

For the spring 2021 schedule, TLU and all of its fellow football members in the American Southwest Conference will play four games against divisional opponents and a final game against a cross-divisional opponent.

For the first time in ASC history, the conference's football schedule will be played under a two-division model with teams closing the 2020-21 season with a playoff pitting teams cross-seeded in a single game.

Each division will have five teams. Belhaven, East Texas Baptist, Louisiana College, Mary Hardin-Baylor and Southwestern will be in the East Division. Hardin-Simmons, Howard Payne, McMurry, Sul Ross State and TLU will be in the West Division.

The ASC's fall sport 2020-21 schedules are subject to change and contingent upon health and safety guidelines of the NCAA and local, state, and federal entities.

Regular-season division play begins Feb. 6 and runs five weeks with eight teams in action each week. Start times are to be determined.

The ASC football playoffs are scheduled March 13 with the game location predetermined. The winner of the game between the two number one seeded teams will be named the 2020-21 ASC Champion.

On Aug. 6, the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III championships in fall sports for 2020-21 were canceled.

With the health and safety of the division's student-athletes, coaches, athletics administrators and communities as its priority, the Division III Presidents Council made the decision to cancel the championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related administrative and financial challenges.

The DIII Presidents Council's decision affected the TLU sports of football, men's soccer, women's soccer, women's cross country, men's cross country, and women's volleyball. These sports will not have NCAA Division III National Championship possibilities in the 2020-21 academic year.

TLU and the two conferences (the SCAC and the ASC) in which it has membership are committed to holding fall sports seasons and conference championship opportunities in the spring semester of the 2020-21 academic year, even without national championship possibilities.

Winter and spring sports for TLU will join the Bulldogs' fall sports in contesting seasons in the spring semester of 2020-21. The winter sports at TLU include men's and women's basketball and men's and women's indoor track & field. The spring sports TLU offers are: baseball, softball, men's tennis, women's tennis, men's golf, women's golf, men's outdoor track & field, and women's outdoor track & field.

Texas Lutheran University

2020-21 Football Schedule

Feb. 6 at Howard Payne (time TBA)

Feb. 13 vs. McMurry (time TBA)

Feb. 20 bye week

Feb. 27 vs Sul Ross State (time TBA)

March 6 at Hardin-Simmons (time TBA)

March 13 ASC playoff game (time TBA)

(vs. corresponding cross-division seed)

(TLU home games at Bulldog Stadium on TLU campus)

2020 D3football.com Preseason All-America team

No matter how many teams play and no matter how many games get played, there will be no normal 2020-21 Division III football season. However, we recognize the top players at each position who were projected to return when the fall football season was canceled.

First team offense
Position	Player	School	Hometown
QB	Gavin Zimbelman	Aurora	Menteno, Ill.
RB	Robert Shufford	Birmingham-Southern	McKenzie, Ala.
RB	Ethan Greenfield	North Central	Lindenhurst, Ill.
WR	Andrew Kamienski	North Central	Pingree Grove, Ill.
WR	Colt Morgan	Case Western Reserve	Wooster, Ohio
TE	Cole Hissong	Wooster	Shreve, Ohio
T	Tim Driscoll	Union	Pleasantville, N.Y.
G	Sharmore Clarke	North Central	Oak Park, Ill.
C	Mike Olsen	UW-Oshkosh	Hartland, Wis.
G	Quinn Meinerz	UW-Whitewater	Hartford, Wis.
T	Kyle Gannon	UW-Whitewater	Waukesha, Wis.
First team defense
DE	Michael Nobile	Delaware Valley	Brick, N.J.
DT	Dallas McRae	Wheaton	Crown Point, Ind.
DT	Mike Murphy	Illinois Wesleyan	Orland Park, Ill.
DE	Mackenzie Balanganayi	UW-Whitewater	Palatine, Ill.
LB	Dillon Keefe	Chapman	Orange, Calif.
LB	Emmett Forde	Hobart	South Boston, Mass.
LB	Kaleb Kaminski	UW-Whitewater	Tomahawk, Wis.
CB	Spencer Rowland	Wheaton	Greenville, Mich.
S	Jefferson Fritz	Mary Hardin-Baylor	Kaufman, Texas
S	Raeqwon Greer	Alfred	Buffalo, N.Y.
CB	Justin Harris	Delaware Valley	Philadelphia, Pa.
First team specialists
K	Jaydon Haag	UW-Oshkosh	Sparta, Wis.
P	Joey Annee	Wabash	Indianapolis, Ind.
RET	A.J. Jackson	Lake Forest	Peoria, Ariz.
ST	Michael Edmonson	Trinity (Texas)	Holly Lake Ranch, Texas

Second team offense
QB	Wyatt Smith	Linfield	McMinnville, Ore.
RB	Ike Irabor	Union	Braintree, Mass.
RB	Christiaan Williams	Ohio Northern	Sidney, Ohio
WR	Ravi Alston	St. John's	Lake Elsinore, Calif.
WR	Harrison Wellman	Johns Hopkins	College Station, Texas
TE	Mike Benning	Birmingham-Southern	Chattanooga, Tenn.
T	Max Warden	St. Lawrence	Potsdam, N.Y.
G	DoRion Dreighton	Mary Hardin-Baylor	San Antonio, Texas
C	Jake Hibben	Wheaton	Littleton, Colo.
G	Luke Lodini	Brockport	Stony Point, N.Y.
T	Brandon Bradford	Wesley	New Castle, Del.
Second team defense
DE	Liam Vincifora	Millsaps	Covington, La.
DT	Chase Lydig	Linfield	Buckley, Wash.
DT	Jake Holaday	Wheaton	Brandon, Miss.
DE	Danny Pietruszewski	St. John's	South St. Paul, Minn.
LB	Ryan Schwartz	Wheaton	Burbank, Ohio
LB	Dante Capozzoli	Kean	Caldwell, N.J.
LB	Erich Keutmann	Western New England	Washingtonville, N.Y.
CB	Jake Beesley	North Central	Champaign, Ill.
S	Mark McGrath	UW-Whitewater	Lisle, Ill.
S	James Bell	Texas Lutheran	Houston, Texas
CB	Keith Gipson	Mary Hardin-Baylor	Killeen, Texas
Second team specialists
K	Anthony Avila	Mary Hardin-Baylor	Troy, Texas
P	Grayson Harvey	Ferrum	Lynchburg, Va.
RET	Tahmir Barksdale	Delaware Valley	Philadelphia, Pa.
ST	Logan Grauer	Lebanon Valley	Mohrsville, Pa.

Third team offense
QB	Michael Hnatkowski	Muhlenberg	Philadelphia, Pa.
RB	Josh Petruccelli	Mount Union	Perry, Ohio
RB	Alex Minton	Denison	Bethel Park, Pa.
WR	Noah Thomas	Rose-Hulman	Indianapolis, Ind.
WR	Manni Romero	Norwich	Phillipsburg, N.J.
TE	Nick Cofer	Heidelberg	Willard, Ohio
T	Jack Fiedler	Bethel	St. Michael, Minn.
G	Gabriel McGill	Wheaton	Plano, Texas
C	Joey Presutti	Mount Union	Houston, Texas
G	Matt Metcalf	Linfield	Eugene, Ore.
T	Corey Schriver	Delaware Valley	Warminster, Pa.
Third team defense
DE	Cameron Chang	Lewis & Clark	Honolulu, Hawaii
DT	Blade Durbala	Central	Blairstown, Iowa
DT	Jackson Ross	Chicago	Norman, Okla.
DE	Joshua Onujiogu	Framingham State	Wareham, Mass.
LB	Dante Daniel	Wesley	Pleasantville, N.J.
LB	Mal Cadwell	Huntingdon	Greenville, Ala.
LB	Jack Pistorius	Middlebury	Park Ridge, Ill.
CB	JoJo McNair	Wartburg	Joliet, Ill.
S	Kordell Ford	Mount Union	Massillon, Ohio
S	Sean Carroll	Salisbury	Wilmington, Del.
CB	Raylens Boutin	Brockport	Nyack, N.Y.
Third team specialists
K	Maki Medici	Utica	Watervliet, N.Y.
P	Ben Garbarini	Christopher Newport	Bedford, Va.
RET	Joey Koroly	Washington & Jefferson	Washington, Pa.
ST	Travis Alvarez	Cortland	Keyport, N.J.