West Virginia, Bell now have decision to make
The West Virginia football program and the starting center from last year's basketball team Jimmy Bell have a decision to make.
Bell has spent the past couple weeks working with the football team in spring practice with the first two weeks dedicated to fundamental drill work before being thrown into the mix for the final six practices.
It was a test run of sorts as Bell wanted to see what he can bring to the table as a football player and if a possible switch of sports would be in his best interest.
Bell participated in the Gold-Blue game at right tackle and had his shares of ups and downs. He was beaten for a sack at one point and recorded a holding penalty but some of that is largely due to his overall inexperience.
"He didn't set off the ball. If he’ll get depth in his set he's going to be really hard to beat just because his arms are so long," head coach Neal Brown said.
The overall athleticism at 6-foot-10, 285-pounds is obvious as Bell is equipped with the size and length desired as an offensive tackle.
Equipped with an 87" wing span which is longer than most tackles at the NFL level.
"He's really long," Brown said.
Bell isn't new to the sport. He has experience on the football field as a high school athlete where he played left tackle for his Sagniaw, Michigan high school prior to leaving for prep school to focus on developing his skills on the basketball court.
That helps with a possible transition between the two sports but it still remains a difficult one for any player that’s been away from the game since their junior year of high school. Still, this spring provided a test drive for the big man.
"Fundamental things and flow of the game he has to get into," Brown said.
That will be an ongoing process if he elects to remain playing the game of football but that decision has yet to be made.
In fact, Brown plans to sit down with Bell and eventually head coach Bob Huggins this week in order to see how to best approach this moving forward.
And a decision could come rather soon.
"I think we'll come to a pretty quick resolution for where it all stands," Brown said.
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