Western Carolina University

PRONUNCIATION: A.J.  BELL - uhn - jurr

2023 (Senior): Played in all 11 of the team’s games with 10 starts at tight end … Caught 17 passes for 190 yards and four touchdowns … Averaged 11.2 yards per catch … His four receiving TDs tied him for fourth on the team … Caught a pass in 10 of the 11 games in which he saw action with multiple receptions four times … Hauled in a season-high four passes in the home win over Samford (Sept. 9) for a season-best 45 yards … Posted a career-best two receiving TDs  in the home win over Mercer (Oct. 28), tallying just 11 yards but 12 total points … Caught a season-long 31-yard pass in the home win over ETSU (Nov. 11) … Was named to the second-team All-Southern Conference by the league’s head coaches following the season … Selected preseason first-team All-SoCon by the league’s head coaches ... Named to the 2023-24 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll and Received a SoCon Commissioner's Medal.

2022 (Junior): Played in nine of the team’s 11 games with six starts at tight end … Caught 20 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown, adding a reception on a two-point conversion to finish the season with eight points scored … Made his WCU debut with a start in the season-opener at Charleston Southern (Sept. 3), hauling in five passes for a season-high 58 receiving yards … Caught a season-high six passes for 42 yards at Georgia Tech (Sept. 10) … Scored on a five-yard reception from Cole Gonzales to open the third quarter in the home win over Presbyterian (Sept. 17) … Caught the two-point conversion pass from Gonzales in the regular-season finale win over nationally-ranked Chattanooga (Nov. 19) that pushed WCU in front by three inside the game’s final minute of the upset victory … Recorded four receptions for 97 yards including a 60-yard score over the middle from Gonzales on the second drive of the day in WCU’s annual Spring Game ... Named to the 2022-23 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll.

Prior to Western Carolina: Transferred to WCU from Tusculum College ... In three seasons with the Pioneers, played in 25 games with 78 receptions for 944 yards and six touchdowns ... Recorded 33 catches as a freshman and 35 as a sophomore, hauling in three TD passes both seasons ... Caught 10 passes for 111 yards in just four games in 2020 for the Pioneers ... High School: Graduated from Clay HS in Green Cove Springs, Fla. ... Coached by Joshua Hoekstra... Lettered twice in football, three times in basketball and three occasions in track & field ... Two-time All-County (2016, 2017) ... Team captain in football ... Two-time basketball team MVP ... Led team to two District titles (2014, 2015) and three Region championships (2014, 2015, 2016)... Stats: 49 receptions, 839 yards, 12 TDs.

Personal: Is the son of Ulysses Tolber and the late Mona Lisa Belanger ... Was born Jacksonville, Fla.