Dustin D. Bell (born April 18, 1987) 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 wi ...

defensive back. He played collegiately for

UTEP Miners The UTEP Miners is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). They are informally referred to as the Miners, UTEP, or Texas–El Paso. UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Conference from 1967 to 2005, ...

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

. Bell was considered a top shutdown corner coming out of

Bakersfield Junior College Bakersfield College (BC) is a public community college in Bakersfield, California. BC serves about 22,000 students each semester or 31,000 annually, and offers Associate degrees, certificate programs, and is one of fifteen California Community C ...

Early life

Bell attended

Wilmer-Hutchins High School Wilmer-Hutchins High School (nicknamed ''"The Hutch"'') is a public secondary school in Dallas, Texas ( USA). A part of the Dallas Independent School District, Wilmer-Hutchins High was formerly part of the now defunct Wilmer-Hutchins Independent S ...

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, where he played football, basketball and baseball. He was All-District in all three sports. As a quarterback his sophomore year he led the eagles to the second round in the playoffs, where they lost a thriller against the Rusk Eagles. During his senior year at Hutch he led the Eagles to the third round in the playoffs. He had record-setting QB statistics; 1770 yards with 27 touchdowns. He was named to the ''Dallas Morning News'' Area Top 100 list and was named a Sleeper in The Dave Campbell Texas Football book and TexPreps.com. He was MVP his senior year. He was a three-star athlete excelling in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

College career

After high school, Bell originally signed with

(UTEP) on a football scholarship, but he would end up attending

where he continued his football career. He red-shirted as a freshman in 2005 season. He was considered a contender for starting

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

his redshirt freshman season. He compiled 70 tackles and 10 interceptions in two years at Bakersfield. In December 2007, Bell committed to Kansas State University to continue his football career. Upon graduation from Bakersfield, Bell enrolled at UTEP as a Multidisciplinary Studies major. Bell began his senior season as a backup for the Miners.

Professional career

Tri-Cities Fever

Bell played a big part in the

Tri-Cities Fever The Tri-Cities Fever were a professional indoor football franchise based in Kennewick, Washington. The Fever joined National Indoor Football League (NIFL) in 2005 as an expansion team. The Fever were owned by Teri Carr. From 2005 to 2016, the Fe ...

, of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams am ...

, making it to the United Bowl.

Cleveland Gladiators

In 2012, Bell played for the

Cleveland Gladiators The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cava ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

New Orleans VooDoo

Bell signed with the New Orleans VooDoo for the 2013 season. Bell was reassigned before the season began.

Return to Tri-Cities

Bell re-signed with the Fever for the 2014 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Dustin UTEP Miners football players Living people Tri-Cities Fever players Cleveland Gladiators players New Orleans VooDoo players 1987 births American football defensive backs