William Earl Belton II (born February 2, 1993) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interco ...

. He was an all-state quarterback at

Winslow Township High School Winslow Township High School (WTHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school in the Atco section of Winslow Township, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone seconda ...

Early years

Belton was born in 1993 in

Sicklerville, New Jersey Sicklerville is an unincorporated community located within Winslow Township in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. It was founded in 1851 by John Sickler, who lived in the area when the present-day town was located within Gloucester Town ...

. He attended Winslow Township High School where he played quarterback and was named all state in New Jersey. He was the first player in New Jersey history to record two consecutive seasons of 2000 passing yards and 1000 rushing yards.

Recruiting

College career

2011

Belton was a significant component to the offense in his freshman season, working primarily out of the "Wildcat" formation. He totaled 65 rushing yards on 13 carries in 8 games. His best game of the year came in the

TicketCity Bowl The First Responder Bowl is an NCAA post-season college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas, Texas, area. The bowl was first held on January 1, 2011, and since 2014 has been contested in late December. The bowl was held at the Cot ...

where he carried the ball 6 times for 35 yards. He was one of only four true freshman to receive significant playing time.

2012

Coming into spring practice, Belton was expected to back up

Silas Redd Silas Raynard Redd Jr. (born March 1, 1992) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Penn State and USC, and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Washington Redskins in 2014. His football career ended afte ...

and provide an occasional change of pace. But when Redd transferred to

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

in wake of sanctions against the Penn State program, Belton was named the starter. In Penn State's first game against the

Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946) of the Mid-Amer ...

, Belton carried the ball 13 times for 55 yards. Belton missed the next two games against

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

respectively due to an ankle injury. He was expected to return against Temple on September 22, but once again sat out. On Twitter, Belton suggested he would return for the game against

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

saying "Time for Illinois. Guess who's backkkk". Though Belton did return for the game against Illinois, he has since taken a back seat to running back

Zach Zwinak Zachary Thomas "Zach" Zwinak is an American football running back who played for the Penn State Nittany Lions from 2010 to 2014. After playing sparingly in his first two seasons, he had a breakout year in 2012. Early years The son of B.J. Zwinak ...

. In the game against Northwestern, Belton recorded only 4 carries for 12 yards, while Zwinak totaled 28 carries for 121 yards and a touchdown. Bill Belton played his best game of the season on October 20 against Iowa. He rushed 16 times for 103 yards and 3 touchdowns. Belton was benched by coach Bill O'Brien against Purdue on November 3 after having a poor week of practice. Teammate Zach Zwinak played instead and posted a 21 rush for 134 yard stat line.

2013

Belton delivered his most productive season as a Nittany Lion. He was second on the team with 1,036 all-purpose yards, good for a 94.2 average. He gained 803 rushing yards on 157 carries for a strong 5.1 average, with a long of 51 yards, and scored five rushing touchdowns. Belton ranked ninth in Big Ten games only at 78.6 rushing yards per game. Against Minnesota, he became the 41st Nittany Lion to record 1,000 career rushing yards, ending the season with 1,131 yards, good for No. 35 on the prestigious list. Belton was tied for sixth on the team with 15 receptions for 158 yards and two scores, with a long catch of 30 yards. Playing in 11 contests and a starter in four games, he also had 75 yards on kickoff returns. Belton joined elite company in the win over Illinois when he gained a career-high 201 yards, becoming the 15th Nittany Lion to rush for at least 200 yards in a game. He delivered Penn State's first 200-yard rushing game since Larry Johnson against Michigan State in 2002 and garnered Big Ten Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors. Belton carried the ball a career-high 36 times, scored on a five-yard run and averaged 5.6 yards per carry en route to his third career 100-yard game. He gained a career-best 209 all-purpose yards against the Illini, adding one reception for eight yards to his rushing total. Belton began the season in his native Garden State, rushing for 22 yards on six carries and delivering three kickoff returns for 66 yards (long of 26 yards) in the win over Syracuse at MetLife Stadium. He ran for 108 yards on nine attempts in the win over Eastern Michigan, scoring twice. His 51-yard touchdown run was a career-long and the team's longest, at the time, since Evan Royster's 69-yard run at Northwestern in 2009. Belton combined with

Akeel Lynch Akeel Joh-Vonnie Lynch (born May 14, 1994) is a retired American football running back who last played for the Nevada Wolf Pack football team. He grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with divorced parents, but at age seven, his father was murder ...

(108 yards) to become the 32nd Penn State running back combo to rush for 100 yards in the same game and the first since 2010 against Northwestern (Royster/Silas Redd). Belton carried the ball 13 times for 90 yards (6.9) in the shutout win over Kent State, including a long run of 28 yards that set up a touchdown. He also made a 15-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter against the Flashes. Belton had three catches for 24 yards and one touchdown and ran for 31 yards in the Big Ten-opener at Indiana. Belton ended the longest game in Penn State and Big Ten history when he scored on a two-yard run to give the Nittany Lions a scintillating 43-40 four-overtime win over No. 18 Michigan. He had a then-career-high 27 carries for 85 yards, with 50 yards after the third quarter, and caught three passes for 26 yards, in the win over the Wolverines. He earned an ESPN.com Big Ten Helmet Sticker for his efforts in the Michigan game. Belton gained 98 yards at No. 4 Ohio State, the second-highest rushing total for a running back allowed by the Buckeyes all year. In his first start of the season, he also caught one pass for nine yards against Ohio State. He carried the ball seven times for 47 yards, including a long of 19 yards in the fourth quarter, at Minnesota. He also had a career-high 41 receiving yards on two catches, including a career-long 30-yard catch against the Gophers. In the win over Purdue, Belton had 19 carries for 81 yards, with a five-yard touchdown run to open the scoring. He did not play against Nebraska due to a slight shoulder injury and illness. Belton gained seven yards on three carries in the season-ending win at No. 14 Wisconsin and caught one pass for five yards.

2014

Belton rushed for 508 yards and six touchdowns in 2014 after bouncing between receiver and running back earlier in his career. Also in 2014, he went on to play in the second bowl game of his college career when the Lions played the

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisio ...

in the 2014 edition of the

Pinstripe Bowl The Pinstripe Bowl is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game that is held at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York City. First played in 2010, the game is organized ...

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...

. Penn State won the Pinstripe Bowl in Belton's final collegiate game.

Professional career

He was signed in May 2015 to

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

but was later cut.

Coaching career

He was hired as

Offensive Coordinator. On November 20th, 2021, He and the Winslow Township Eagles won NJSIAA Group 4 Central Championship Game.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belton, Bill 1993 births Living people Penn State Nittany Lions football players People from Winslow Township, New Jersey Players of American football from New Jersey Sportspeople from Camden County, New Jersey Winslow Township High School alumni