West Virginia, Bell using trial period in football to determine next step

Spring is all for experimentation.

That apparently even extends across different sports now as starting center Jimmy Bell of the West Virginia basketball team has spent the past few weeks with the Mountaineers football team.

It isn’t an entirely foreign concept to play both sports in Morgantown as Jarrett Brown once did when he was backup quarterback for the Mountaineers during the 2008 season. He would transition over to the hardwood and appeared in 13 games during his time with the basketball team.

But this would be a basketball player returning to the gridiron and it’s far from a settled deal.

Bell, 6-foot-10, 285-pounds, isn’t unfamiliar to the game of football considering he played left tackle during his time in high school. But gave up the game when he moved from his Saginaw, Michigan home to Bella Vista College Preparatory School in Arizona to focus solely on developing on the hardwood.

Bell started all 34 games for the basketball team at center this past year averaging 4.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

Still the thought of trying football again never left him. When asked about it during this past basketball season, Bell didn’t sugarcoat the possibility.

“It’s always crossed my mind. It’s definitely a thought for sure,” he said.

That thought became reality this spring as Bell is on what head coach Neal Brown refers to as a trial run with the football team during the month of April in spring practice.

There have been plenty of successful transitions between basketball to football over the years, especially those with length. Bell certainly possesses that with good feet for his size. He also has the demeanor to play the game of football as he is a very physical presence on the court.

But considering the fact that Bell hasn’t played the game since his sophomore year of high school this period will be good for both parties to see exactly where he is at and if he can potentially help.

Bell is working primarily at offensive tackle for the time being but Brown believes he also could play some tight end too given his length. But the head coach has made it clear that there are no expectations for Bell given his time away from the game.

For now, Bell has been practicing with the team since Tuesday after previously spending the first two weeks doing drills in order to get up to speed. He will continue to practice with the football team throughout the course of the spring but then a decision must be made moving forward.

Given the rules, if the two parties do deem that football is the appropriate path Bell would come over on the books for that program.

So, the next week and change will be important to see where this ends up and which sport Bell will find himself playing next season.

“Just a trial run seeing it and he’s got to make a decision if that’s what he wants to do if he wants to go back to basketball, and he definitely can. And we’ve got to make a decision can he help us?” Brown said.

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