Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/420483
en down by a cut block that wasn't flagged, was on his mind when he reacted angrily to a late, low block by another Hoosiers player to earn that unsports- manlike flag.) He started eight games last fall, missing time due to a minor knee injury but still finishing with 78 tackles, second on the team to fellow linebacker Glenn Carson. Then came 2014. With Carson lost to graduation, and with no other healthy Lion linebacker possessing his experience, the 6-foot-0, 232-pound Hull was the logical candidate to move into the middle of the LB corps. Franklin and Shoop need- ed someone they could rely on to quar- terback their defense, and surveying their sanction-depleted squad, Hull simply seemed the best man for the job. For his part, Hull downplayed the difficulty of the transition. "I don't think it'll be too much of a difference, just the vocality and getting everyone set and lined up, making all the checks," he said. "As long as I can take care of getting everyone else set up, I think I should be good to go." As his coaches will tell you, "good" isn't the half of it. "I don't know if I could ;nd something in terms of his preparation and his de- meanor that I would want more from," Franklin said. "How he is in meetings, how he is at practice, his focus, attention to detail, his work ethic, how coachable he is. From day one, he's embraced every- defended and 6.5 tackles for loss, Bell has made his youth and inexperience after- thoughts this season. Wartman recently noted that the previously soft-spoken Bell has turned into a confident chatter- box on the field. He's done the extra film study that new defensive coordinator Bob Shoop has encouraged his players to do, and he's gotten better physically. Teammates have taken notice. "The biggest improvement I've seen out of him is that he's more vocal now. He wasn't much of a vocal guy last year, and this year he plays a little faster," Wartman said. "You can see he just goes when he sees it. His trigger is a lot faster this year. "It's nice seeing both of us [develop] into the players that we're trying to be. That's why with Brandon, I see a tremendous player in the years to come." Bell sees plenty of room for improve- ment. He takes many of his cues from Hull: how to shed blocks, how to gain strength, how to perfect his technique. With two years of el- igibility remaining, he has a lot of time left to refine his game. "It's been a tough process. I'm still going through it now," Bell said. "You can ask Coach [Brent] Pry. There's something he yells at me about every Sun- day after the game. It's because I'm a young player still. But I've definitely gotten better. I can play a lot faster than maybe a lot of other sopho- mores could." ANSWERING THE BELL Bell has developed into one of the Nittany Lions' best young players, rank- ing third on the team in tackles as a sopho- more this season. Photo by Steve Manuel