Damien Bell
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| Damien Bell | |
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| Position(s): Quarterback |
Jersey #(s): 00 |
| Born: May 15, 1976 San Diego, California |
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| Career Information | |
| Year(s): 1999–2001 | |
| NFL Draft: 1999 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1 | |
| College: Michigan | |
| Professional Teams | |
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| Career Stats | |
| TD-INT | 44-20 |
| Yards | 4,238 |
| QB Rating | 88.2 |
| Stats at NFL.com | |
| Career Highlights and Awards | |
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Damien Quentin Bell (May 15, 1976) was an American Football Quarterback for the New England Regulars and Chicago Marauders. Damien Bell played college football at Michigan. When he entered the pros he was called the next Tim Reese, but a serious injury ended his short career.
[edit] College football
During his three year college career Damien Bell put up numbers that Quarterbacks could only dream about. He threw deep passes for touchdowns and had amazing accuracy. In one game against Hawaii Bell completed 24-25 passes, passing for 356 yards and 4 TD passes. Many consider that performance as the greatest performance ever by a Quarterback.
In Bell's freshman year he didn't start the first three games due to a knee injury, but during his stay on the bench he was known as "The Second Coach" because of his motivation. His first two games ended with 5 TD passes in each game. Michigan won both of those games easily. As his dominant season continued Michigan fell in the poll rankings. After starting out 7-0, Michigan ended the season a disappointing 9-4. Bell ended his first season with over 3900 yards, 39 TD passes and only 7 INT. He finished second in the Heisman Voting, the highest place for a freshman ever.
Knowing that he would be the top pick if he entered the draft, Bell decided to stay in Michigan. He said in a press conference that he would not leave Michigan without a championship. In his sophomore year Bell started off slow, but threw 34 TD passes in the next 6 games. He would finish the season with over 4500 yards, 53 TD passes with only 6 INT. He would win the Heisman Trophy that year, but Michigan finished 10-3 that season, winning the Rose Bowl against Oklahoma 35-10 with Bell throwing 3 TD passes.
Coming into his junior year Michigan was a heavy favorite to win. Starting out 11-0 and Bell passing for 58 TD passes, #1 Michigan took on #7 Ohio State. Michigan was heavily favored to win, but thanks to a mistake on defense Michigan lost 21-17 on a last second TD pass from Zack Duckett to Greg Phillips. Michigan finished 11-2 that year, losing to #5 LSU 30-21 in the Orange Bowl.
In 1998 Bell won the Heisman Trophy for the second time, only the second player to do so. He was a three time first team all American, won 3 Davy O Connor Awards, won 2 Maxwell Awards, and was a 3 time Big Ten Player of the Year. Damien Bell looked like he had it all, but he still wanted a championship. A few days before he would announce if he would stay or leave, the New England Regulars finished 2-14 and had the first pick in the draft. New England offered Bell a 5 year contract worth 156 million dollars, a record that still stands. So on announcment day, Bell told the Michigan fans that he was heading for the pros.
[edit] The Football Draft
Bell guaranteed that he was going to be the first pick in the draft. However there were two other great QB prospects. There was Julius Williams from Texas and Joe Cane from LSU. Both of those QB had a lot of talent and some thought they had more talent than Damien Bell, but the New England Regulars ended up taking Michigan QB Damien Bell with the first overall pick in the Football Draft.
