2019 Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football team

The 2019 Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football team represented Texas A&M University–Commerce as a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC) the 2019 NCAA Division II football season. They were first-year head coach David Bailiff. Bailiff replaced Colby Carthel, who left Commerce to become the head football coach at Stephen F. Austin State University. The Lions compiled an overall record an 11–3 with a mark of 7–1 in conference play, placing second in the LSC. Texas A&M–Commerce qualified for the NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs for the fifth straight season and the eighth time since joining the NCAA in 1982. They finished as national quarterfinalists for the third time in program history.

2019 Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football
NCAA Division II Quarterfinal, L 21–42 vs. Minnesota State
Conference	Lone Star Conference
Ranking
AFCA	No. 11
Record	11–3 (7–1 LSC)
Head coach	David Bailiff (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Billy Riebock (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Xavier Adibi (1st season)
Base defense	4–2–5/4–3 hybrid
Home stadium	Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 2018 2021 →

2019 Lone Star Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 9 Tarleton State $^		8	–	0					11	–	1
No. 11 Texas A&M–Commerce ^		7	–	1					10	–	3
Angelo State		5	–	3					8	–	3
West Texas A&M		5	–	3					8	–	3
Eastern New Mexico #		4	–	4					8	–	4
Midwestern State		3	–	5					5	–	6
UT Permian Basin		2	–	6					4	–	7
Texas A&M–Kingsville		1	–	7					2	–	9
Western New Mexico		1	–	7					1	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant # – Heritage Bowl participant Rankings from AFCA Coaches poll

Schedule

Texas A&M–Commerce announced its 2019 football schedule in January 2019. The Lions played 11 regular season games and finished the regular season 9–2. They were ranked as high as 11th during the season.^[1]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 7	6:00 p.m	Selección Nuevo Leon*	No. 13	Memorial Stadium Commerce, TX		W 83–0	7,319
September 14	3:05 pm	at Western Oregon*	No. 12	McArthur Field Monmouth, OR		W 34–27	2,890
September 21	6:00 pm	Eastern New Mexico	No. 12	Memorial Stadium Commerce, TX		W 45–27	7,968
September 28	7:00 pm	at No. 20 CSU Pueblo	No. 11	Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl Pueblo, CO		L 17–24	6,921
October 5	7:00 pm	at Texas A&M–Kingsville	No. 21	Javelina Stadium Kingsville, TX (Chennault Cup)		W 33–6	2,712
October 12	6:00 pm	Midwestern State	No. 20	Memorial Stadium Commerce, TX	ESPN3	W 54–28	7,446
October 19	6:00 pm	at No. 4 Tarleton State	No. 20	Memorial Stadium Stephenville, TX (President's Cup)		L 21–35	11,513
October 26	4:00 pm	Western New Mexico	No. 23	Memorial Stadium Commerce, TX	NEXSTAR	W 62–21	8,154
November 2	4:00 pm	at West Texas A&M	No. 24	Buffalo Stadium Canyon, TX (East Texas vs. West Texas)	ESPN3	W 34–20	6,734
November 9	4:00 pm	UT Permian Basin	No. 24	Memorial Stadium Commerce, TX		W 44–13	6,233
November 16	3:00 pm	at Angelo State	No. 23	LeGrand Stadium San Angelo, TX	NEXSTAR	W 17–3	2,972
November 23	1:00 pm	at No. 3 Tarleton State*	No. 21	Memorial Stadium Stephenville, TX (NCAA Division II First Round)		W 23–16	8,214
November 30	1:00 pm	at No. 7 Colorado Mines*	No. 21	Marv Kay Stadium Golden, CO (NCAA Division II Second Round)		W 23–3	1,446
December 7	1:00 pm	at No. 4 Minnesota State*	No. 21	Blakeslee Stadium Mankato, MN (NCAA Division II Quarterfinal)		L 21–42	1,352
*Non-conference game Rankings from AFCA Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Rankings

See also: 2019 NCAA Division II football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final
AFCA	13	12	12	11	21	20	20	24	24	24	23	21	11
D2Football	13	12	12	11	20	20	19	24	24	23	22	20	7

Game summaries

Selección Nuevo Leon

	1	2	3	4	Total
SNL Lions	0	0	0	0	0
No. 13 TAMUC Lions	43	6	27	7	83

At Western Oregon

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Lions	3	7	10	14	34
Wolves	0	13	0	14	27

Eastern New Mexico

	1	2	3	4	Total
Greyhounds	3	3	8	13	27
No. 12 Lions	14	10	7	14	45

At No. 20 CSU Pueblo

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Lions	3	7	7	0	17
No. 20 ThunderWolves	0	10	7	7	24

At Texas A&M–Kingsville

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Lions	7	5	21	0	33
Javelinas	0	6	0	0	6

Midwestern State

See also: 2019 Midwestern State Mustangs football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	7	7	7	7	28
No. 20 Lions	17	14	14	9	54

At No. 4 Tarleton State

See also: 2019 Tarleton State Texans football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Lions	0	7	7	7	21
No. 4 Texans	14	7	7	7	35

Western New Mexico

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	7	0	7	7	21
No. 23 Lions	13	14	14	21	62

At West Texas A&M

See also: 2019 West Texas A&M Buffaloes football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 24 Lions	13	7	0	14	34
Buffaloes	7	6	7	0	20

At Angelo State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Lions	7	0	0	10	17
Rams	3	0	0	0	3

At No. 3 Tarleton State (Regional Quarterfinal)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Lions	7	6	10	0	23
No. 3 Texans	10	0	3	3	16

At No. 7 Colorado Mines (Regional semifinal)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Lions	7	0	13	3	23
No. 7 Orediggers	3	0	0	0	3

At No. 4 Minnesota State (Regional final)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Lions	14	0	0	7	21
No. 4 Mavericks	7	14	7	14	42

Personnel

2019 Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 2 Miklo Smalls  So RB 6 J. T. Smith Jr TE 11 Tyler Guice Sr TE 12 Drake Flores  Jr QB 16 Mason Ray  So WR 17 Ryan Stokes Sr WR 18 Jeremiah Bridges So QB 19 Preston Wheeler  Sr WR 21 Christion Brewington So RB 26 Carandal Hale  Jr RB 29 Spencer Long Fr RB 34 E. J. Thompson Jr RB 37 Jemal Williams So WR 38 Eric Hebert Fr TE 40 Caleb Cilumba Jr TE 41 Alex Carswell Jr RB 43 JaQuorius Smith  Jr RB 46 Antonio Leali'ie'e  Jr RB 47 Chris McPhaul So OL 51 Amon Simon Jr OL 53 Christian Hernandez Jr OL 61 Dawson Holley Fr OL 62 Graham Eeds Fr OL 63 Solomon Ndukwe  So OL 64 Travis Dafft  So OL 67 Jackson Richmond  So OL 68 Kendall Mathis  Jr OL 70 Dixon Siuele Jr OL 71 Deion Malone Sr OL 72 Brian Taylor  Sr OL 73 Myron Aiava Jr OL 74 Richard West  So OL 75 Coleton Lasseter  Jr OL 77 Kendrick Murphy Fr OL 78 Noah Harris  Fr OL 79 Matt Mora  Jr WR 80 Darian Owens Jr WR 81 Arnezz Archie  So WR 83 Kelan Smith  Jr WR 84 Greg Craddock So WR 85 Chance Cooper Jr WR 87 Lorenzo Rosario  Sr WR 88 Matt Childers  So WR 89 Rayshawn James Fr TE Jackson Allen Fr WR Andrew Armstrong Fr OL James Clark III Fr WR Rashad Dixon Fr WR Austin Dodd Fr WR Max Epps Fr QB Shane Gosson  So RB Cameron Grant Fr TE Nathan Jester Fr WR Devin Johnson  Fr OL Brandon Laird Fr RB Koby Leavatts Fr WR Daelan Loyden Fr OL Hunter Miller Fr WR De'Rondre Moore Fr OL Stephen Nevarez  Fr OL Kelvin Scott Fr WR Aniyah Spencer Fr WR Landry Tyson Fr WR Devlen Woods Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 1 L.A. Dawson Sr DB 3 Sammy Gray Sr DB 4 Jalon Edwards-Cooper  Sr DB 8 Felipe Chambers Sr DB 8 Kader Kohou  Jr DB 10 Alex Shillow  Jr DB 13 Christian Wise  Fr LB 15 Terrell Collins Sr DB 20 Dominique Ramsey  Jr DB 22 Darent White  Sr DL 23 Elijah Earls  Jr DB 24 Kyevon Rider  Fr DB 25 Daryion Taylor  Fr DB 27 Darius Williams  So LB 28 Mark Westbrook Sr LB 31 Jay Bias  Jr DB 32 Mekhi Roberson  Fr LB 33 Neema Behbahani  Sr LB 35 Peter Kazibwe Jr LB 39 Joe Butler Sr LB 44 Dayne Douglass Jr DB 45 Basil Shabazz Jr DL 48 Vili Paea Sr DL 49 Demondre Lauderdale Jr LB 50 Xavier Morris  Jr DL 52 Peyton Searcy  Sr DL 54 Devin Beamon So DL 55 Pierre Leonard Sr DL 58 Ty Reed  So DL 90 David Brazil Sr DL 91 Austin Vaimili Sr DL 93 Jaylon Hodge Jr DL 94 Brandon Bascue  So DL 95 Tali Amosa Jr DL 96 Dylan Davis  So DL 97 Chris Williams Sr DL 98 Mark Brown  Fr DL 99 Ronathon Elmore So DB Jordan Austin Fr S Dennis Barnes Fr DL Tank Bell Fr DL Jack Bussey Fr S Larry Cooper Fr DL Isaiah Curry Jr LB Uzo Ebinama Fr S Xzavion Florence Fr DB Gerard Franklin  Fr DL Clifford Funderburk Fr DB George Gipson Jr. Fr DB Ibrahim Hassan Fr DB Jack Hurd  Fr LB Bryson Jenkins  Fr LB Myles Jones Fr LB DeQuavion Ludd Fr DB Champ Mathis Fr LB Ryan Moore  Fr S Darius Myers Fr DB Kendall Paul Fr DL Nick Petitti  So DB Jordan Polk Fr LB Roman Punch Fr DB Kobe Savage Fr DB Jireh Thompson  Fr LB Jordan Wells Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K, P 9 Jake Viquez  Jr K 36 Andrew Gomez Jr LS 47 Chance Work  Fr K 57 Emmanuel Adagbon  Fr LS 82 Wyatt Leath Jr P Mitchell McGarry Fr K Jacob Zepeda  Fr	Head coach David Bailiff Coordinators/assistant coaches Billy Riebock Offensive coordinator Xavier Adibi Defensive coordinator Famika Anae Offensive line Mitch Ferrick Wide receivers Jaylon Finner Safeties Casey Walker Defensive line Kyle Williams Assistant defensive coordinator/Cornerbacks Jack Welch Special teams coordinator/Running backs Payton Pardee Outside wide receivers Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

Postseason awards

All-Americans

• Dominique Ramsey, First Team All-Purpose
• Amon Simon, Second Team Defensive Line

All-Lone Star Conference

LSC Superlatives

• Academic Player of The Year: Alex Shillow
• Offensive Lineman of The Year: Amon Simon

LSC First Team

• Deion Malone, Offensive Line
• Amon Simon, Offensive Line
• Antonio Leali'ie'i, Running Back
• Dominique Ramsey, Kick Returner & Defensive Back
• Kader Kohou, Defensive Back

LSC Second Team

• Miklo Smalls, Quarterback
• Ryan Stokes, Receiver
• Jake Viquez, Place Kicker
• Chris Williams, Defensive Line
• Jaylon Hodge, Defensive Line
• Terrell Collins, Linebacker
• Alex Shillow, Safety

LSC Honorable Mention

• Christian Hernandez, Offensive Line
• Tyler Guice, Tight End
• Chance Cooper, Receiver
• LA Dawson, Cornerback
• Andrew Gomez, Punter
• Wyatt Leath, Deep Snapper ^[2]