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Le'Veon Bell

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Le'Veon Bell
Leveon Bell Steelers.jpg
Bell during a Divisional Playoff game between the Steelers and Chiefs in Jan. 2017.
No. 26 — New York Jets
Position:  Running back
Personal information
Date of birth:  February 18 1992 (1992-02-18) (age 28)
 Reynoldsburg, Ohio
Listed height:  6 ft 1 in (1.85)
Listed weight:  225 lbs (102 kg)
National Football League debut
Debuted: 2013 for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Career information
High school:  Groveport Madison (OH)
College:  Michigan State
NFL Draft:  2013 / Rnd: 2 / Pck: 48th
Career history
Roster status: Active
* = offseason / practice squad only
Career highlights and awards

Le'Veon Andrew Bell (/ˈleɪviɒn/ LAY-vee-on;[1] born February 18, 1992) is an American football running back for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Michigan State, and was drafted by the Steelers in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft.

High school career[edit | edit source]

Bell attended Groveport Madison High School in Groveport, Ohio, where he played football, basketball, and ran track.[2] He played running back for the Groveport Cruisers football team. As a sophomore, Bell ran for 789 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. As a junior, Bell ran for 1,100 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns, and as a senior, Bell ran for 1,333 yards on 200 carries with 21 touchdowns. He was selected first-team All-Ohio Capital Conference Ohio Division as a senior. In basketball, Bell earned second-team All-OCC Ohio Division honors as a junior. He also participated in track & field while at Groveport, where he ran the 100 and 200-meter dashes and was one of the state's top performers in the high jump (personal-best of 6'8" or 2.03 meters).[3]

Considered a two-star recruit by ESPN.com, Bell was listed as the No. 211 running back in the nation in 2010.[4] Although he was a 3-year starter in high school, Bell had limited scholarship offers from Bowling Green, Marshall, and Eastern Michigan, but he hoped to attend Ohio State. Bell's high school principal, Donis Toler Jr., believed he was under-recruited and reached out to Michigan State's head coach Mark Dantonio. Although Dantonio had heard of Bell, they had never scouted him personally or had thought of offering him a scholarship. With football season over, Dantonio sent his running back's coach to scout Bell at his high school basketball game.[5] After he finished his senior football season, he finally received a scholarship offer from Michigan State after a number of players got into trouble and Michigan State had open scholarships available with a need at running back.[6] In 2010, he graduated from high school early and began attending Michigan State that spring semester.[7]

College career[edit | edit source]

Bell enrolled in Michigan State, where he played for the Michigan State Spartans team from 2010 to 2012.[8]

Freshman season[edit | edit source]

As a freshman in 2010, he appeared in 13 games, rushing for 605 yards on 107 carries with eight rushing touchdowns. He also added 97 yards on 11 receptions and returned six kickoffs for 142 yards.[9] In total, he had 844 all-purpose yards.[10] He received All Big-Ten Freshman honors from ESPN.com and Rivals.com.[11]

Sophomore season[edit | edit source]

As a sophomore in 2011, Bell led the Spartans in rushing with 948 yards on 182 carries and 13 touchdowns.[10] Against the Iowa Hawkeyes, he had 161 yards of total offense and a rushing touchdown. Against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, he had 165 all-purpose yards (96 rushing, 38 receiving, and 31 kickoff return yards) and two total touchdowns in the game.[12][10] Against #18 Georgia in the 2012 Outback Bowl, Bell rushed for 48 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns and had five receptions for 39 yards in Michigan State's 33–30 victory.[11][13]

Junior season[edit | edit source]

Against Eastern Michigan in 2012, Bell ran for a career-high 253 yards while also claiming the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week Award.[14] He finished the season with 1,793 rushing yards, which finished second in the Big Ten.[15][16][17] He was voted to the First Team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media, ESPN.com, College Football News, and Phil Steele.[11]

After his junior season in 2012, Bell decided to forego his senior season and entered the 2013 NFL Draft.[18]

College statistics

Year Team GP–GS Rushing Receiving Kick Returns
Att Gain Avg TD Long Avg/G Rec Yards Avg TD Long Avg/G No. Yards Avg TD Long
2010 Michigan State 13–0 107 605 5.7 8 75 46.5 11 97 8.8 0 35 7.5 6 142 23.7 0 32
2011 Michigan State 14–6 182 948 5.2 13 35 67.7 35 267 7.6 0 45 19.1 1 31 31.0 0 31
2012 Michigan State 13–13 382 1,793 4.7 12 40 137.9 32 167 5.2 1 20 12.8 4 46 11.5 0 31
Total 40–19 671 3,346 5.0 33 75 83.7 78 531 6.8 1 45 13.3 11 219 19.9 0 32

Professional career[edit | edit source]

Coming out of Michigan State, Bell was projected by the majority of analysts to be a second or third round selection. He was ranked as the fifth best running back by NFLDraftScout.com and ranked the best overall running back by NFL analyst Bucky Brooks.[19][20] He received an invitation to the NFL Combine and participated in all workouts and positional drills. Bell was satisfied with his combine performance and only performed positional drills at Michigan State's Pro Day.[21] Bell, Dion Sims, William Gholston, Johnny Adams, and five other Michigan State prospects worked out in front of scouts and representatives from 29 NFL teams.[22] The only head coach that attended was Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin.[22] Scouts considered Bell a big bruising back with quick feet and lower body strength and also gave him positive reviews for his ability to run north-south, for his strong cuts, and nice bursts through holes. The only negative reviews were based on his limited ball-carrier vision, inconsistent blocking, and his height that would possibly affect his speed and ability to dodge tacklers.[21]

All values from NFL Combine[21]
Pre-draft measureables
Ht WtArm lengthHand size 40-yd dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert Broad BP
6 ft 1⅜ in 244 lb31½ in9⅝ in 4.60 s 1.52 s 2.60 s 4.24 s 6.75 s 31½ in 9 ft 10 in 24 reps

Bell was selected in the second round with the 48th overall pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2013 NFL Draft. He was the second running back to be selected that year, only behind Giovani Bernard, who went 37th overall to the Cincinnati Bengals.[23][24] On June 3, 2013, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Bell to a four-year, $4.12 million rookie contract that includes $2.27 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $1.37 million.[25][26]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Template:Cite AV media
  2. ↑ DaSilva, Cameron. "Le'Veon Bell's enormous donation is helping his high school install turf", Fox News, 2017-05-25. (en-US) 
  3. ↑ Q & A with Michigan State running back Le'Veon Bell.
  4. ↑ LeVeon Bell - Football Recruiting - Player Profiles - ESPN.
  5. ↑ Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specifiedDiamond Lueng (September 13, 2012). . Retrieved on January 10, 2017.
  6. ↑ SBN Studios. Le'Veon Bell went from Unwanted to Unstoppable. SBNation.com. Retrieved on July 4, 2016.
  7. ↑ Le'Veon Bell: A Style All His Own.
  8. ↑ Le'Veon Bell College Stats (in en).
  9. ↑ Le'Veon Bell 2010 Game Log (in en).
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 2013 Draft | Pittsburgh Steelers.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Michigan State Spartans Player Bio: Le'veon Bell.
  12. ↑ Minnesota at Michigan State Box Score, November 5, 2011 (in en).
  13. ↑ Outback Bowl - Michigan State vs Georgia Box Score, January 2, 2012 (in en).
  14. ↑ Career high rushing and big ten offensive player of the week award..
  15. ↑ Bell Named CFPA Elite Running Back Trophy Winner.
  16. ↑ Bell addresses NFL Draft rumors in accepting Elite Running Back award.
  17. ↑ 2012 Big Ten Conference Leaders (in en).
  18. ↑ Bennett, Brian. MSU's Le'Veon Bell to enter NFL draft.
  19. ↑ Bucky Brooks (May 1, 2013). Le'Veon Be.emerging as best running back in 2013 NFL Draft. Retrieved on January 9, 2017.
  20. ↑ Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified. Retrieved on December 12, 2016.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 2013 NFL Draft Profile: Le'Veon Bell.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified. Retrieved on December 12, 2016.
  23. ↑ 2013 NFL Draft Listing (in en).
  24. ↑ https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/steelers-address-backfield-situation-select-rb-leveon-bell-000015196.html
  25. ↑ Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified. Retrieved on December 12, 2016.
  26. ↑ Overthecap.com: Le'Veon Bell Salary.

External links[edit | edit source]

Retrieved from "https://americanfootball.fandom.com/wiki/Le%27Veon_Bell?oldid=190157"
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