Kendrick Bell went from high school quarterback to starting wide receiver at Michigan
Michigan Wolverines football‘s first offensive play of last Saturday’s game against Texas featured a new face: Kendrick Bell. The sophomore wide receiver didn’t see any game action last season but played a key role in the opener against Fresno State, before earning his first career start in Week 2.
“It was a blessing,” Bell said. “I worked my tail off to be able to get to that spot, but I feel like I can always be better. From watching the film on Saturday, I feel like I know I can do better. I feel like I can make more plays out there, but I can only do so much.
“I feel like we’re going to be better on Saturdays, and we will be.”
Bell missed fall camp with a shoulder injury but earned the start based on preseason practices.
“I will say, going into the first game, I didn’t think I was going to play that much,” Bell said. “I missed all of fall camp, so I didn’t think I was going to do a whole lot. But I had a really good week of practice going in.”
The 6-foot-2, 191-pounder is the younger brother of former Michigan and current San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ronnie Bell, who was famously a two-star recruit that led U-M in receiving yards three of his five seasons.
Kendrick came to Michigan as a quarterback, but during fall camp before his freshman season, then-head coach Jim Harbaugh suggested a move to receiver. Bell’s first reaction wasn’t a positive one.
“My heart dropped,” Bell said. “I was not ready, because I had not played receiver in I don’t know how long.”
It wasn’t since eighth grade that Bell was a wideout, for the ‘Raiders,’ before switching to quarterback at Kansas City (Mo.) Park Hill. In high school, the dual-threat quarterback completed 72 percent of his passes with 35 touchdowns and added 670 yards and 10 scores on the ground. He became a signal-caller, he explained with a laugh, because “we had nobody that could throw a ball.”
Bell embraced the change to receiver, with position coach Ron Bellamy remembering the way he worked before and after practices.
“You could see Kendrick working on footwork, getting on the jugs machine and catching the football,” Bellamy said in August. “That’s all helped him because each and every day he’s building more and more confidence. I really love what Kendrick is, and I think he’s going to be a heck of a player for Michigan.”
“Coach Bellamy was stoked for it, he was happy for it,” Bell said of his move to wideout. “He’s seen my basketball highlights, so he knew he could turn me into something. But I’m still developing, still doing this and that. So I continue to thrive with him.”
Bell was all-district in basketball and was a state-qualifying jumper in track and field, so he’s always shown his high-level athletic ability.
He’s beginning to do so for Michigan football, too, having caught 2 passes for 18 yards in his first two games. The NBC broadcast crew revealed during the Wolverines’ game against Fresno State that the coaching staff said they feel Bell is their best downfield threat.
“If you put the ball anywhere near me, I can go get it,” Bell said. “My route running is still getting better and better, but if you put the ball anywhere near me right now, I’m going to go get it.”
Michigan has had only 5 passing plays of 20-plus yards, tied for the 74th-most in the country, but Bell believes the explosiveness will come.
“100 percent,” Bell said. “I feel like we’re a very explosive group, especially in our receiver room. I feel like all of us, everybody is explosive in that room, and we just can’t wait to display it on Saturdays.”
