Greg Alonzo Bell III (born June 16, 1998) is an

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 ...

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 ...

who is a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He played college football at Arizona Western,

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

and

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

Early life

Bell was born on June 16, 1998, to Gregory Bell and Erica Williams in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. Bell went to high school at Bonita Vista High School in nearby

Chula Vista, California Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the Largest cities in Southern California, seventh largest city in Southern California, the List of largest California cities by population, fifteenth largest city ...

. As a senior, he put up 2,632 yards and 34 touchdowns. Bell received a scholarship from San Diego State University, but he did not have sufficient grades to qualify.

College career

Arizona Western

Bell would go to Arizona Western for his first two collegiate seasons. He scored his first touchdown with the team on September 30, 2016, during a 56–0 blowout win. He would finish the season with 1,187 yards and 7 touchdowns. His 948 conference yards would lead the

Western States Football League The Western States Football League (WSFL) is a defunct American junior college football league for schools in the states of Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico and Utah that existed from 1985 to 2018. The league was part of the National Junior College Athle ...

(WSFL). In 2017, Bell put up 1,217 yards and 11 touchdowns. He had a 4-touchdown game against Eastern Arizona and a 211-yard game against

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Nebraska

Bell transferred to Nebraska in 2018. This was the first year under the new redshirt rule stating players can

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after four games. Over the first two games of the season, Bell mounted 168 yards on 27 attempts. However, over the next two games, he had 5 yards on 8 attempts. He lost the starting job to veteran

Devine Ozigbo Devine Eghosa Ozigbo (born October 2, 1996) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He played college football at Nebraska and signed with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2019. Early years Ozigbo attended ...

. Bell left the Nebraska program on October 5, 2018, shortly after losing the starting job. He stated he had "earned the starting job and feel I have continued to work the same way but feel I am not being used to my fullest potential." He was released from his scholarship shortly after. After this, Bell posted on

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schools he was not allowed to transfer to. One of these schools was Oregon State. This led to Nebraska head coach Scott Frost to publicly accuse Oregon State of tampering with past transfers.

San Diego State

Bell announced his intentions to go to San Diego State University (SDSU) on March 14, 2019. He was to join the team by walking on; SDSU had no scholarships left and therefore was unable to give Bell a scholarship. Before the start of the 2019 season, Bell suffered an injury during

weight training Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength, size of skeletal muscles and maintenance of strength.Keogh, Justin W, and Paul W Winwood. “Report for: The Epidemiology of Injuries Across the Weight-Traini ...

that required surgery and sidelined him for the entirety of the season. In 2020, Bell became the first Aztec to record three straight 100-yard rushing games in a players first three games with the program. He also became the first Aztec since Rashaad Penny in 2017 to record four straight 100-yard rushing games. Bell finished the season with 637 rushing yards on 113 attempts and six touchdowns. In 2021, Bell became the 18th 1,000 yard rusher in Aztec history. He finished the season 1,091 rushing yards on 245 attempts and 9 touchdowns. He finished with a total of 1,728 rushing yards, which is the 19th most in SDSU program history.

Statistics

Professional career

Detroit Lions

Bell went undrafted in the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

. He was picked up by the Lions on May 1, 2022. He was signed to a 3-year, $2.575 million deal, with $100,000 guaranteed. On July 28, during the Lions' second training day, Bell went down with a hamstring injury. Bell was not claimed through waivers and was put on the Lions' injured reserve. Players put on injured reserve before the 53-man preseason deadline aren't able to return from injured reserve, effectively ending Bell's season. On July 22, 2023, Bell was waived by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

Pittsburgh Steelers

On August 1, 2023, Bell signed with the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

. He was waived on August 29, 2023 and re-signed to the practice squad. He was released from the practice squad on October 3, 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Greg 1998 births Living people American football running backs Players of American football from San Diego Sportspeople from Chula Vista, California Players of American football from San Diego County, California Arizona Western Matadors football players Nebraska Cornhuskers football players San Diego State Aztecs football players Detroit Lions players Pittsburgh Steelers players Bonita Vista High School alumni