MORGANTOWN — The WVU football team is trying something out this spring by having a center practicing at offensive tackle. No, it’s not Zach Frazier. It’s not even a football center at all — it is men’s basketball starting center Jimmy Bell Jr.
WVU head coach Neal Brown confirmed the news Thursday morning, saying that he and men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins agreed to let Bell have a “trial run” with the football team this April.
“There have been some successful transitions (from basketball to football) of long guys,” Brown said Thursday. “We talked and agreed to kind of make April a trial run. For two weeks he did drills and starting on Tuesday, he’ll practice through the spring game.”
At 6’10” and 285 pounds, Bell not only looks the part of an offensive lineman, he actually does have some experience. He played both football and basketball as a high schooler at Arthur Hill in Saginaw, Michigan, and received some interest from colleges to continue on the gridiron, before he transferred to Bella Vista Prep in Arizona to focus solely on basketball.
After focusing on basketball at Bella Vista Prep, Bell played two seasons at St. Louis, then one year at Moberly Area Community College (Mo.) before coming to Morgantown.
As early as this January, during his first basketball season with the Mountaineers, Bell talked about the possibility of picking football up again.
“The thought has definitely crossed my mind,” Bell said at the time. “It’s definitely a thought, for sure.
“For me, I always had a love for both sports growing up.”
However, the thought of actually playing both sports at the time wasn’t at the front of his mind.
“I’ve gone to mostly every home game here, and I still reminisce and think about playing football,” Bell said. “I miss it a lot, but right now, I’m here to play basketball and that’s where my focus is.”
Bell started all 34 games for WVU this winter, averaging 4.8 points and 5.2 rebounds as the team’s primary option inside.
“When I say it’s a trial run, it really is,” Brown stressed. “It’s been a while, I think it’s either been 2016 or 2017 since he’s played. Obviously, he’s got great length, got great size, got the demeanor.”
He out-sizes most of the football team’s offensive linemen. While most of the football players exceed 285 pounds, only Doug Nester (6’7”) and redshirt-sophomore Shawn See (6’10”) are within four inches of Bell’s height.
“I don’t really have any expectations for him,” Brown admitted. “I’m just kind of seeing it and at the end of the month, he’s got to make a decision if that’s what he wants to do or if he wants to go back and play basketball, which he definitely can. And then we’ve got to make a decision on if he can help us.”
Brown also said Bell could see some time at tight end, where most basketball players end up when transitioning to football.
If Bell’s trial run works out, it not only could help the football team as a source of unexpected depth, but it could also help the basketball team. Huggins and the Mountaineers have hosted a number of players in the transfer portal this off-season but as of Thursday, only have one open scholarship spot.
The roster could change in a lot of ways before next season, but Bell joining the football team would move his scholarship, opening up another spot for the basketball squad.
Bell will start practicing in earnest with the football team next week and will continue up until the annual Gold-Blue Spring Game on April 22.
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