The Duquesne Dukes defense finished strong towards the end of the 2011 season and despite only bringing back four starters from that unit, have put together three consecutive solid performances to help lead Duquesne on a three-game win streak.
A big reason for that has been the play of junior linebacker Dorian Bell, who is off to a very good start to the 2012 season.
Bell had perhaps his best game of his career in Saturday’s Northeast Conference victory over Bryant University when he recorded 14 tackles, forced and recovered a fumble and made a game-changing goal line stop. That performance earned Bell NEC Defensive Player of the Week honors.
It’s the second time the Ohio State transfer from Gateway High School has been named NEC Player of the Week in his two seasons at Duquesne. If he keeps playing at this level, it may not be the last.
Bell is third on the team with 27 tackles, including a team-high 18 solo stops. His 9.0 tackles per game and 4.5 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles are a team-best.
Duquesne (3-1, 1-0) will be looking to extend both its NEC win streak and home win streak (currently at eight) when it hosts NEC rival Saint Francis, Pa. (2-2, 1-0) for Homecoming on Saturday, Sept. 29 at 1:10 p.m.
Phot Credit: Duquesne
