The Wolverine

2022 Michigan Football Preview

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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THE WOLVERINE 2022 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 59 BY JOHN BORTON R onnie Bell saw an incredible plan unfolding. He'd help lead Michi- gan's resurgence in 2021, share in the breakthrough against Ohio State, slip on a Big Ten championship ring and ride off into the sunset (and the NFL). One random snap in the season opener against Western Michigan brought it all crash- ing down. The grad student wideout didn't lose every- thing when he tore an anterior cruciate liga- ment (ACL) on a punt return. He still exulted over the Buckeye beat down. He'll still slip on the championship jewelry. He could well experience the NFL. But the timetable for participatory great- ness experienced a violent shove backward. Bell absorbed a stinging reminder of how life can suddenly turn. "It's how quickly your plans change," Bell mused. "You think one thing's going to go, then it's altered." The fifth-year player's extreme alteration seemed particularly cruel. He's put in every bit of the work that Aidan Hutchinson, Has- san Haskins, David Ojabo, Cade McNamara and others had in the effort to fuel Michigan's football resurgence. Bell also delivered an early reminder in the opener just how effective he could be, hauling in a 76-yard touchdown pass to crack open the eventual 47-14 rout. Then he hit the turf at the end of a normal punt return. He got up and slumped back down again. Something was wrong. Very wrong. The damnable diagnosis dominated the last nine months of Bell's life, delivering a challenge that required an answer. He had to be OK. For his family. For himself. For the future. Now, it's time to see what that future holds. Moments Of Anger, Agony ACL injuries don't always scream that your season has ended. This one merely whispered, something's not working right. When Bell found himself back on the turf, he felt more puzzled than devastated. Then a Michigan medical staffer made an assessment that rendered Bell ready to wring his neck. "I didn't know it was anything serious, until I went to get up the second time," Bell recalled. "When I wasn't able to really get myself off the field is when I realized I had actually done something. The doctor came out, and it must have been the first thing he checked for. "He said my ACL, right away. That's when it started to go through my head. They checked it again when I got on the sideline, and that's all they were saying — they were worried about my ACL. "When the doc said it, I almost got mad at him. Don't say stuff like that. It's not cool. Of course, he was just doing his job, and he was right. He knew what he was feeling." Bell knew what he was feeling, too. There's the sudden shock. There's the dev- astating reversal of fortune. There's the over- whelming sense of loss, given the blood, sweat and tears poured out prepping for this moment. There's also a grim loneliness facing most ACL patients beginning the long road back. Bell pushed back on that one, almost im- mediately. "Mentally, it was heavy," the native of Kansas City, Mo., admitted. "One thing I did helped me tremendously. I never left the team. I was driving around practice on the golf cart. I was crutching around. I was still with everybody. "That saved me a lot of trauma. Still being so much a part of it was really the biggest thing. "Going to bed at night with all of it on your mind and showing up the next day, I felt like all of my teammates were right there in my corner, fighting it with me. That helped me tremendously." Bell threw himself into instructing the younger receivers, delivering encouragement to teammates and doing anything he could to make himself part of a crew determined to put Michigan back on the map. When the stands emptied and all in maize and blue exulted after the Wolverines took down Ohio State, Bell celebrated as hard as anyone. He experienced no mixed feelings, no sense of getting cheated for not partici- pating in the breakthrough. He sang "The Victors" as loudly as the next Michigan Man. "I was very much just in the moment for that one," Bell recalled. "I don't remember playing any mental games with myself. I was still in coach mode, helping everybody the best I could. I didn't really feel like I was physically able to do much then." Things got tougher when the Wolverines moved on to their first-ever College Foot- ball Playoff experience. By then, Bell's re- hab surged forward. He felt better, far more ready to go. Ironically, the nearer he drew toward re- covering his health, the more everything hurt inside. "The lowest moment would definitely be when we got to Miami," he acknowledged. "That whole trip for me was very difficult. I was pretty deep into the rehab process by that time. I just felt like I had gotten so much stronger. "I wasn't able to be out there, but men- tally, it felt like I could. It was hard once I got to moving around and doing athletic things again to not play in the game. I just wanted to be out there and help everybody. I was in Miami, feeling like I can — but I couldn't." Bell still found himself surrounded by en- couragers, those beyond coaches and team- mates. His younger brothers, Marqueas and Kendrick, and his younger sister, Laila, all injected him with hope and motivation. His parents played a role as well, Bell's dad having torn up a knee in college. The wounded Wolverine found himself getting better for them, as well as for himself. "I can remember getting a call from my mom, when I was on the way to the hospital, and letting her know I was OK, I was going to be all right," Bell recalled. "For them, as much as for myself, I needed to make the most of this situation, whether I was going to play anymore that season or not. "For my siblings, I needed them to see you could do something like that and still be OK. They came up here to see me and spent time with me. They didn't say too much about my knee, specifically. It was just reaching out. The phone calls, the conversa- tions that we've had, the love we share. "I've always wanted to be the best big brother I could for them. In those moments, it was catching up about high school foot- ball, high school basketball — whatever Bell enters the 2022 season with 83 career receptions, 1,380 yards receiving (16.6 yards per catch) and 5 TDs. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN LIBERTY LIBERTY BELL BELL Rehabbed Ronnie Bell Is Free To Pursue Happiness Again

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