The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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JANUARY 2018 THE WOLVERINE 59 COMMITMENT PROFILE Kansas City (Mo.) Park Hill two-star wide receiver Ronnie Bell committed to Michigan in rather unorthodox fash- ion. The 6-1, 170-pounder had been a Missouri State basketball commit since September, but always dreamed of playing big-time college football. Once the Michigan coaches finally saw Bell's tape, that dream started to look more like reality. "My head coach let me know that Michigan was trying to get a hold of me," Bell explained. "As soon as I even had a glimpse of hope of playing football in college, I got out of the Mis- souri State thing and got the recruit- ing process going with Michigan." Michigan never offers basketball commits during their senior year who don't have any football offers, but that's how it worked with Bell and now he's a part of U-M's class. Bell agrees that his path to a foot- ball future is a little different, but trusts what the Wolverines told him and is beyond excited to be a part of the U-M football family. "They were shocked that I didn't have any football offers," Bell said of the U-M staff. "I'm sure they were shocked that I was committed some- where to play basketball and not football. I'm not really sure how my name got on their desk or how they found me. God works in amazing ways, and he found a way to put my name on their desk. "I never thought this would hap- pen. There were nights I would pray, and I would just hope that a football school would give me an opportunity. For Michigan to be the school that did it, I could've never imagined that. You can't make something like that up." Park Hill head coach Josh Hood couldn't believe that his star wide receiver finished up his senior season without an offer. He gave the Michi- gan staff a lot of credit for finding Bell and having the courage to be the first to offer him. "We get a lot of coaches into our school," Hood said. "When you come to Kansas City to recruit you have to go to four or five schools, and we're one of them. We had a lot of schools look at Ronnie, but we had no takers. "Ronnie told people that he was go- ing to go the basketball route because he thought that was his best path to not paying for school so he signed with Missouri State. Michigan jumped in with us and really did business right. They did a wonderful job of minding their P's and Q's since he was commit- ted for basketball, but they let us know that there was serious interest. "As soon as everything was cleared with Ronnie with the NCAA and get- ting out of his letter with Missouri State, the Michigan coaches were in with him within 60 seconds. That re- ally impressed Ronnie and our staff. That showed Ronnie that the Michi- gan guys really love him. He told me, 'This is my calling — this is where I'm supposed to be.'" It only took a little bit of convinc- ing from Jim Harbaugh to win Bell over. The two of them had a nice con- versation once they were allowed to, and Bell was sold. "I knew that Michigan is an amaz- ing program, winning wise and foot- ball wise," Bell said. "I had no idea that Michigan was such a great aca- demic school, though. "Coach Harbaugh just told me all kinds of interesting stats about how the school is one of the best in the en- tire country from an academic stand- point. He just let me know about how so many kids just try to go there just to go to school and that I'm lucky enough to go there to play football as well." As a senior, Bell won the 35th an- nual Thomas A. Simone Award as the top football player in the Kansas City area and was named to the Missouri Football Coaches Association Class 6 (largest schools) All-State first team. He caught 89 passes for 1,605 yards and 21 touchdowns, helping Park Hill win its first Suburban Gold Con- ference championship and reach the Class 6 state semifinals. According to the Missouri State High Schools Activities Associa- tion record book, Bell's 21 receiving touchdowns are the fourth most in state history and the most by a player from the Kansas City area. — Brandon Brown Under-The-Radar Recruit Ronnie Bell Picks U-M Football Over Hoops FILM EVALUATION Strengths: Ronnie Bell has many strengths on the football field. He's an out- standing athlete with great hands and body control. He's also very slippery after the catch and often turns short passes into big gains. Areas Of Improvement: At 170 pounds, Bell is quite slight and that will have to change at the next level. He'll need to hit the weight room hard and also learn to play against bigger, stronger cornerbacks who are much better at playing press coverage than anyone he's seen in high school. Michigan Player Comparison: Bell is a slightly longer, more athletic version of Grant Perry. The two both blew up as seniors and catch everything. Perry is a little stockier, but has proven to be a reliable receiver with good hands and solid after-the-catch ability. Bell could have a similar future with an even higher ceiling because of his length and natural athleticism. — Analysis from TheWolverine.com As a senior, Bell recorded 89 receptions for 1,605 yards and 21 touchdowns en route to being named the top football player in the Kansas City area. PHOTO COURTESY RONNIE BELL VIA TWITTER Bell "I never thought this would happen. There were nights I would pray, and I would just hope that a football school would give me an opportunity."