Four-star CB Micah Bell commits to Notre Dame football
Houston The Kinkaid School class of 2023 cornerback Micah Bell announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Friday evening, giving the Fighting Irish three new pledges in as many days.
Bell tweeted out a top 10 of Baylor, Duke, Harvard, Houston, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas and Vanderbilt June 5, which represented the schools he’d ultimately choose from. Based on some of the schools in that group, Bell is clearly a strong student and talented football player. Those two aspects were key in his decision to pick the Fighting Irish.
“It’s the best school athletically and academically for me,” Bell told Blue & Gold about his choice of Notre Dame before going public with his decision. “I always knew it was a really good school. They only let in 19 percent (acceptance rate), and they have a really good engineering program and business school. It’s the top in the country. And the football speaks for itself. Those two factors right there; it’s a no-brainer.”
Bell received his scholarship offer from Notre Dame March 17 and made it to campus exactly three months later for his official visit. On that Sunday before his visit wrapped up, Bell informed Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman face to face that he’d be committing to the Irish.
“I told him that I was going to come here. He was like, ‘Are you serious?’ And I told him yes,” Bell recalled. “He was fired up. He said that we’re going to do something special.”
As much as Notre Dame’s prestige on and off the field was important to Bell, the relationships he built with the Notre Dame staff were crucial as well.
“They talked to me a lot; it was like I was already a player there,” Bell said. “As busy as Coach Freeman is, he always makes time to talk to me. I know he has six kids and is a head coach, so that’s a lot to deal with.
“Coach [Mike] Mickens is really cool, and I like his philosophy. I like Coach Al [Golden], too. He’s coming from the NFL and knows a lot. He’s a really good defensive coordinator.”
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The Micah Bell file
He is the No. 19 prospect in Texas, and the No. 11 cornerback and No. 118 overall player nationally in the 2023 On3 Consensus.
Bell rushed 134 times for 1,118 yards with 9 touchdowns during his junior season in 2021, helping lead The Kinkaid School to a 9-2 record and a Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) championship. He also added 10 receptions for 72 yards. Defensively, he made 18 tackles (one for loss).
Bell was named the 2022 Texas Track & Field Private School Male Track Athlete of the Year. He set SPC records in the 100-meter race at 10.46 seconds and 200-meter race at 20.89 seconds.
His brother Dillon Bell, who is listed as a four-star wide receiver in the On3 Consensus, signed with Georgia in the 2022 class.
Bell, who is ranked as the No. 7 prospect in the Houston area by the local NBC affiliate, has been invited to play in the 2023 All-American Bowl in San Antonio.
Bell has an NIL Valuation of $115,000, which slots him at No. 154 in the high school football NIL rankings. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.
