Aztec Football Star Earns Mackey Watch List and Deans List Recognition

Daniel Bellinger

San Diego State student-athlete, Daniel Bellinger, has proven to be one of the standouts on the current Aztecs football roster. So much so that his performance on the field has landed him on the 2020 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List, an honor given annually to the player judged as the best tight end in college football at the end of the season. This recognition is especially meaningful to Bellinger since three other Aztec tight ends (Parker Houston, Kahale Warring and David Wells), players he considers role models, have previously appeared on the list. “They’re guys I’ve looked up to the last few years,” said Bellinger. “To be recognized in the same group as some of my role models is pretty special to me.”

Bellinger has proven himself to be both an outstanding athlete and an outstanding student.

Bellinger, a Las Vegas native, is about to begin his junior year as a finance major at the Fowler College of Business. As strong in the classroom as he is on the field, he was recently named as a 2019-20 Mountain West Scholar-Athlete, which is an honor reserved for those conference athletes who have maintained a minimum 3.5 GPA over two academic terms while participating in a varsity sport. He said he chose to pursue a finance major because he’d “always felt comfortable with numbers and the idea of dealing with money.”

My favorite SDSU memory is… 

When we beat UCLA on their home field last year. It was our first day game of the season, and our only Pac-12 opponent that year, and the Aztecs hadn’t ever beaten UCLA. It was surreal playing in the Rose Bowl after watching teams play there for years on TV, so to finally play there was amazing.

He says he owes much of his success to his parents, Frank and Renee Bellinger. “They pushed me to be where I am today and they’ve always believed in me when a lot of other people didn’t,” said Bellinger. “My dad specifically has always pushed me to be the best athlete, student, and overall human being I can be. Without his help and guidance, I’m not sure if I would be here today. My mom, on the other hand, was just someone who inspired me because she’s given up a lot in her life for my sister, my brother, and me. I know that without her caring hand, life would be a lot harder than it is.”Though Bellinger had offers to study and play football at five other schools — most notably the University of California and the Naval Academy — he chose to come to SDSU because he “fell in love with the campus, the coaches, the education, and the overall student lifestyle,” he said. “After I took my official visit here, I knew this is where I wanted to live and grow the next four years of my life, and where I knew I could succeed on the field and the classroom.”

Bellinger played in every game during the Aztecs' 2019 season.

Once he has completed his football career, Bellinger plans to use the skills he’s learned in the classroom to help others improve their standard of living. “Once I’m finished with football, my ultimate goal would be to earn my MBA,” he said. “Then I’d like to be able to teach financial literacy to low income people to help them learn how to manage debt and make good decisions about financial issues.”