Nov 22, 2014 7 min read

PITTSBURGH – Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell’s journey to the NFL is not that different from many others.

He went from high school to college football star before moving on to the professional ranks.

But, had Bell not been adamant about being a college running back, the AFC’s leading rusher heading into this weekend’s games with 951 yards might have had a different story altogether.

As a senior at Groveport Madison High School in Ohio, Bell was getting attention from a number of colleges to play football. But most of those schools wanted him to be a safety or linebacker.

Bell was adamant that he was a running back and was willing to wait until the right opportunity came along for that to happen.

“I like to score touchdowns,” said Bell, who has 1,484 yards from scrimmage this season for the Steelers (7-4). “Don’t get me wrong, in high school, playing safety was fun. I just always felt like that with the ball in my hands, I could do a lot of different things that would help win the game. Defense is more like a team-oriented thing. I feel like you can win the game when you’ve got the ball in your hands.

“In high school, there would be times when we were losing, and they would just give me the ball three or four times in a row and I would just make something happen. On defense, you can’t do that. They can just go away from you and it’s kind of harder to make the play. I chose to play offense.”

That kind of mentality was on display by Bell in the Steelers’ recent 27-24 victory at Tennessee.

With the Steelers down 24-13, Bell took the game over, gaining 74 of his career-high 204 yards rushing in the final quarter.

Bell joined Willie Parker (twice), Frenchy Fuqua and John Henry Johnson as the only Steelers to top the 200-yard rushing mark in a game.

Strangely, it wasn’t Bell’s work on the football field that eventually gave him the opportunity to do that in the NFL.

Bell’s senior football season came and went, and despite rushing for over 1,300 yards and scoring 21 touchdowns, his only offers to play running back had come from some smaller schools, at least until Michigan State running back coach Dan Enos saw him play basketball.

An all-conference basketball player as a junior, Bell was surprised to see his mother sitting with Enos – now the head football coach at Central Michigan – during warmups for one of his games.

Bell, who grew up playing basketball with future college stars Trey Burke and Jared Sullinger, decided it was a good time to put his athleticism on display.

“We weren’t allowed to dunk in warmups, but I was just going up and dropping it in,” said Bell, who cleared 6-8 in the high jump in high school as well. “I was throwing it up off the backboard and doing a 360 and dropping it in. They saw me do those kind of things and I guess they felt I was a better athlete than they thought I was.”

Enos was impressed enough with Bell’s efforts that Michigan State offered him a scholarship soon after.

“I think I had 31 points that game,” said Bell. “(Enos) eventually told me that after seeing me in warmups he called (Michigan State coach Mark) Dantonio and said, ‘We have to offer this guy.'”

Bell’s stubbornness regarding his desire to play running back has proven to be the right choice.

He led the Big Ten in rushing in his final season at Michigan State and has already turned in record-setting performances for the Steelers, who selected him in the second round of the 2013 draft.

In his first season, Bell broke Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris’ team record for yards from scrimmage by a rookie, gaining 1,259 despite missing three games with a sprained foot.

This season, he has set new team records for receptions in a season by a running back with 57 and counting, breaking John L. Williams’ mark of 51 in 1994. He also became the first player in Steelers’ history to produce at least 100 yards from scrimmage in each of the first eight games of a season. And his 2,694 yards from scrimmage in his first two seasons are already a team record as well.

That’s not bad for a guy whose NFL.com draft bio said, “doesn’t have very good vision … to become a full-time back will need to continue to improve his ability as a pass catcher or become a more consistent blocker.”

“I didn’t look at those as weaknesses,” said Bell. “Obviously, there were parts of my game that I could improve on. I’m not the perfect back or anything. Those things, for guys to say that I’m not a good pass protector or not good catching the ball out of the backfield, I feel like they never watched the film.

“In college, I protected the quarterback in the backfield. I caught a lot of passes out of the backfield. I was doing all the things I’m doing now. Obviously, I’ve gotten better at it, but when I was in college, I was at least above average. I think coming out, they have to say something negative. I saw all of that. It just made me want to work harder.”

Bell’s style is continuing to develop. At the behest of Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, Bell slimmed down from his college weight of 244 pounds to 230 for his rookie season, giving him added quickness. He’s now playing at 225 pounds.

“The goal was to break more of the long runs,” Bell said. “When the opportunity’s there, rather than having an eight-yard gain, try to make it into a 70-yard gain. That’s the difference. Two steps and making a guy miss and be able to run away from everybody.”

He has retained the power of a big back while adding an element of quickness to his game that wasn’t always there in college. He’s found a happy medium.

“I don’t think I had an end result in mind when I had that initial conversation with Le’Veon, but I was just letting him know that his optimum professional weight is probably lighter than his optimum college weight,” said Tomlin. “I didn’t want him to be disillusioned that this is a big man’s game. This is a highly conditioned man’s game.”

The weight loss was what he’s needed to be as one of the rare NFL running backs who stay on the field regardless of down and distance.

Unlike many other teams, the Steelers don’t need to change running backs on third down or in short-yardage situations. Bell is a man for all purposes.

That was on display in the win over the Titans. Bell was on the field for 71 of the team’s 74 offensive snaps, carrying the ball 33 times, catching two passes and also stepping up in pass protection on a number of occasions.

“He can do it running the football. He can do it catching the football,” said Tomlin. “He wants to be the central reason why we are successful.”