http://nebraska.statepaper.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2010/12/16/4d0a3803e3378
NEBRASKA FOOTBALL: Husker Scout-Teamer Turning Heads
Bell's speed gives NU secondary headaches
By Samuel McKewon
December 16, 2010
Ask Nebraska's Blackshirts to identify a few offensive scout team players who have given them fits throughout this year, and one freshman wide receiver emerges quickly from the pack.
“Kenny Bell,” NU cornerback Prince Amukamara said. “Oh man, that guy can fly. He's one of the fastest guys on the team. That guy can catch it. He's very swift.”
Faster than Prince, generally regarded as one of the Huskers' sprint champs?
Amukamara's pause says enough.
“He's kind of like Taylor Martinez in terms of acceleration,” Amukamara said. “But Kenny can keep accelerating.”
A 6-foot-1, 170-pounder from Boulder, Colo., Bell is easily identifiable off the field by his slender build, quick smile, big hair and the old-school bikes he loves to ride. A rack sits outside the Hawks Championship Center, and recruiting reporters who best know Bell – who can't talk to the press here until he plays in a game – can immediately pick out his bright, stylish bike from the pack.
On the practice field, Bell sat out much of fall camp nursing a hamstring injury. While Nebraska coaches figured out which true freshmen would play in 2010 – only wide receiver Quincy Enunwa, cornerback Ciante Evans and guard Andrew Rodriguez did – Bell rode a different kind of bike: The gray, stationary one that sits under one of the giant awnings in Hawks.
“Once he got healthy, they've been raving about him every since,” wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore said.
Why?
“He just goes all-out every play,” Peso Eric Hagg said. “No matter what. The blocking, the running, the catching. Everything. He's all-out focused.”
Hagg said Bell caught “whole bunch of touchdowns” on Nebraska's top-flight secondary.
“And we're actually trying to stop this guy,” Hagg said.
Bell, who picked Nebraska over schools like Texas Tech, Minnesota, Arizona State and California, could be a threat as a kick and punt returner, too.
After a boffo 2009 with Niles Paul filling both roles, Paul's production tailed off in 2010 aside from a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown at Oklahoma State. After Paul got hurt, Brandon Kinnie and Tim Marlowe were serviceable kick returners, but not explosive. Rex Burkhead's primary job at punt returner was simply to field the ball.
“I'm anxious to see what he can do in the return game,” Gilmore said.
This fall, Gilmore didn't work much with Bell beyond position drills. But when he recruited Bell in late 2009 – after another recruit, Curtis Carter, switched his verbal commitment from NU to TCU – he saw a kid with rare speed and quickness – if a slight penchant for getting hurt. Bell missed most of his senior season at Boulder's Fairview High School with a broken collarbone. He then arrived in Lincoln with the hamstring injury.
So while Bell's gained 10 pounds this fall, Gilmore said he still needs to add more – and retain his speed in the process.
Hagg doesn't expect it to be a problem in the spring.
“That would be just be crazy for him not to play,” Hagg said. “He actually beats us. He does amazing things on us."
