According to the SMU Mustangs’ official roster, sophomore cornerback has 170 pounds draped over his 5-foot-10-inch frame. If those numbers are accurate, just one player (5-5 wide receiver B.J. Lee) is lighter … and chances are Lee weighs more than his 166 pounds.

Derrius Bell sat out the Washington State game after getting knocked out in SMU's victory at UAB (photo by Webmaster).

In any event, Bell is among the slightest players on the 2009 team, but he doesn’t play that way, and a little over two weeks ago, Bell’s aggressive style got the best of him. In the Ponies’ victory at UAB, Bell charged into the pocket on a cornerback blitz, only to have Blazer running back Justin Brooks step into his path toward quarterback Joe Webb. Brooks, whose listed weight of 215 pounds gives him a 45-pound edge over Bell, delivered a crushing block, knocking Bell unconscious.

“I don’t remember much,” Bell said. “I remember the hit, and then right after that, I just remember being in an ambulance. I was out.”

The argument could be made that Bell shouldn’t have even been on the field for the play at all.

“A couple of plays before, I more than likely suffered a concussion, and I didn’t tell the trainers — me trying to be tough, and tough-minded, and go back out there,” Bell said. “But it was just a good, solid block under the chin. Me, trying to be a tough guy, I was thinking, ‘I’m going to go in here and give it to him.’ It was a really solid hit, and he was bigger than me by, I’d say, 20-30 [actually 45] pounds. But I thought I was going to give him more than he gave me.”

While he lay motionless on the ground, SMU coaches and teammates feared for Bell. Some teammates had tears in their eyes. Bell, of course, didn’t consider the severity of the hit until he was in the ambulance on the way to a Birmingham hospital.

“One of the (team) docs got in there with me,” he said. “When I woke up, I still didn’t have much feeling, and he was just trying to tell me to squeeze his hands and move my feet, and I couldn’t at the beginning. After a while, it came back. I think I was fairly numb at the beginning when I was first waking up, and then it started coming back and everything was good. It was five to 10 minutes after I woke up when I could start feeling again. He told me to squeeze his hands, and I couldn’t do it, and he told me again and I did it pretty tight. Then he told me to move my feet, to ‘press the gas,’ and I was able to do that, so I started to think I’d be alright.

“It was scary, more than anything.”

Bell spent a couple of hours in the hospital, undergoing tests and answering questions to test his memory.

“It’s crazy to describe, hard to describe,” he said. “It’s something that you’d really have to go through to understand.”

Bell acknowledged that he considered the worst, including lingering effects from the hit or at least the possible end of his football career.

“I talked to my mom about that a couple of times, and she just talked to me about my mentality about the game, about if I’m still the same player, and if I’m not, she could see me walking away,” he said. “But I’m way too tough for that. My mindset is back right, and I think I’ll be just as aggressive as I was coming out, even though I still haven’t been able to go 100 percent, full-speed contact, but when I do, I think I’ll be just fine. Starting Monday, I’m going to be back.”

Bell did limited drills during the Ponies’ bye week last week, and returned to the practice field Monday. He said he fully intends to be in the lineup Saturday when SMU travels to Fort Worth to take on TCU in the Battle for the Iron Skillet.

Bell said the recovery process was not immediate.

Bell said he dealt with headaches and dizziness after returning from Birmingham, but said his "mindset is right" and he expects to play Saturday at TCU (photo by Webmaster).

“I had headaches and dizziness — I would feel uncomfortable, just walking — for a week to a week and a half, with a constant headache,” he said. “I can’t even really explain. I was walking around confused all day long. I’m telling you, it was very weird. I was tuning out, not able to focus on things for long periods of time. But now, the headaches are gone, and I don’t feel dizzy anymore. I’m good now.”

When he returned to the practice field for his limited drills last week, Bell said he initially struggled a little remembering his assignments.

“It was kind of bad,” Bell said. “(Secondary) Coach (Derrick Odum) was signaling in the plays, and I could not remember some of the signals. I was telling Bryce Hudman and (Chris) Banjo, ‘man, I do not remember the play.’ I kept asking them what the play was, and they’d ask, ‘you didn’t see (Odum’s signals)?’ I said I did, but told them to tell me what it is, just so I know. I’m really known to be the one asking for the play, anyway, especially when I’m on the far side of the field. A lot of times even when I’m right by the coach, I’ll still ask what the play is. But Banjo and Rock (Dennis) keep me informed.”

Banjo said Bell’s questions about assignments didn’t send up any red flags, because of Bell’s penchant for double-checking his assignments.

“It was nothing,” Banjo said of Bell’s questions. “He always does that, because he always wants to make sure everyone’s on the same page.”

Bell’s headaches are gone, and said he feels 100 percent ready to play Saturday in Fort Worth. The one question that lingers in his mind surrounds his first significant contact, a rarity in practice, since the Mustangs do little hitting during the week. Bell said he is considering altering his tackling style, which despite his size often entails throwing himself straight in to ball carriers.

“I was just talking about that today — I really need to get that first contact,” he said. “I just want to get it out of the way. Even though we don’t hit as much as some other teams do, by game time, my mindset will be right.

“(Defensive coordinator) Coach (Tom) Mason actually said I need to start taking on bigger guys with more of my shoulder and half of my body, rather than going straight down the middle and leading with my facemask. I know that’s the way to hit, but that day, I just … I don’t know. I hit him straight up, and I paid the cost for it.”

Banjo said he has absolutely no concerns about Bell’s ability to protect himself when making a tackle, or to make his presence felt on the SMU defense.

“He plays like a linebacker,” Banjo said. “He throws all of his weight — all 125 pounds, or whatever he is — into every play, every tackle. He’s a strong player, a tough player. But he’s a smart player, too, so he’ll be safe.

“But he’ll make plays for us, too. That’s what he does.”