Brandon JaMarr Bell (born January 9, 1995) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

Early years

Bell attended

Oakcrest High School Oakcrest High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school located in Hamilton Township, in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The school is part of the Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District, which includes three ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He played

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

and

for the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team.

College career

Freshman year

During his first year at

he played in seven games with twenty-three total tackles, fourteen solo tackles. In his first game as a Nittany Lion he recorded two tackles one of them a solo tackle in a 45–7 win over Eastern Michigan. His best game statistically was vs

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

on November 11 he recorded six tackles four of them solo in a win during the season finale.

Sophomore year

During the 2014 season Bell began getting a substantial increase of playing time. He started ten games for Penn State. Bell recorded his first college

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

in a game against Rutgers and the next week vs

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

he had his first sack in a 48–7 win. Bell's best game of his career and the year was a thirteen tackle effort and also a sack in a 31-24 Double Over-Time loss to the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...

. Bell finished the year with a total of 43 tackles, two sacks and one interception in ten games.

Junior year

Bell set career highs with sacks and tackling during the 2015 campaign. Totaling 56 tackles and three and a half sacks Bell was one of Penn State's best defenders. In the first game of the year Bell had one sack and seven tacks vs the

Temple Owls The Temple Owls are the athletic teams that represent Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current athletic director is Arthur Johnson. The owl has been the symbol and mascot for Temple University since its founding in the 18 ...

. His best game of the year was a nine tackle performance in the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

opener vs Rutgers. In his last game during his junior year, in the

Taxslayer Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, operated by Gator Bowl Sports. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised natio ...

against Georgia he had eleven tackles in a compact fallen short when Penn State lost 24-17 after scoring fourteen unanswered points to pull within a touchdown.

Senior year

Bell's first appearance as a senior was in the season opener vs

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in Ash ...

he recorded a tackle and an interception in a 33–13 win. The next week, he had nine tackles in a rivalry game vs Pitt in a 42–39 loss. During the final seconds of the game on a tackle on Pitt’s James Connor, Bell suffered a knee injury sidelining him for the next three weeks. Bell's best performance was a 19 tackle, one sack game vs the

. The Nittany Lions upset No. 2 Ohio State on a blocked FG attempt and ran it back 64 yards for the

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

. The win put PSU in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

for the first time since 2011. There ranking in their Top 25 was No. 24. On November 26, Bell recorded a tying-season high 18 tackles with 2 tackles for loss in a 45–12 Big Ten East clinching win over

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. And on December 3, 2016 Big Ten Championship 13 tackles, one sack and a forced fumble.

Career statistics

Reference

Professional career

Cincinnati Bengals

Bell signed with the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

as an undrafted free agent on May 5, 2017. He was waived on September 2, 2017 and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on December 15, 2017. On September 1, 2018, Bell was waived by the Bengals. He was re-signed to the practice squad on October 23, 2018. He was promoted to the active roster on November 16, 2018. He was waived on May 11, 2019.

Carolina Panthers

On August 19, 2019, Bell was signed by the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

. He was waived during final roster cuts on August 30, 2019.

Seattle Dragons

Bell was signed by the Seattle Dragons of the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

on January 6, 2020. He was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

during final roster cuts on January 22, 2020. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

References

External links

Penn State Nittany Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Brandon 1995 births Living people American football linebackers Carolina Panthers players Cincinnati Bengals players Oakcrest High School alumni Penn State Nittany Lions football players People from Hamilton Township, Atlantic County, New Jersey Players of American football from New Jersey Seattle Dragons players Sportspeople from Atlantic County, New Jersey