Kenny Bell (born February 25, 1992) 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 ...

wide receiver. He played college football at

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 sout ...

and was drafted by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft.

Early years

Bell attended Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado, where he was a three-sport star in football, track and basketball. In football, Bell helped Fairview High to a 12–1 record and a state semi-final appearance in 2009. As a junior, Bell earned first-team All-Front Range League honors, playing wingback and rushing for 958 yards and 12 touchdowns. As a senior, Bell caught 18 passes for 328 yards and three touchdowns, and added an interception and kickoff return for a touchdown. He missed much of the season with an injury, but scored five touchdowns in his first five games back in action. Despite his limited action, Bell's impact was recognized, as he was a first-team All-Colorado selection and first-team Class 5A All-state pick by

The Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

. 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 ...

, Bell helped his team to the state title game as a senior. Also a standout

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete, Bell was one of the state's top performers in both the sprinting and jumping events. In the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

, he posted a personal-best leap of 7.62 meters (24–9), while in the high jump he had a best of 2.02 meters (6–7.25). He also ran the 100-meter dash in 10.8 seconds. Bell was ranked among the top 10 players in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, and was rated as a three-star recruit by ''

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

''. Bell committed to play college football at Nebraska after also visiting

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

. He also had offers from several other schools, including

, Cal,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

College career

Bell attended Nebraska from 2010 to 2014. As a freshman, he was redshirted. As a redshirt freshman in 2011, he played in all 13 games making 11 starts. He led the team with 32 receptions for 461 yards and three touchdowns. He became the second freshman in school history to lead the team in these categories. As a sophomore in 2012, Bell started all 14 games and again led the team with 50 receptions for 863 yards and eight

touchdowns 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 Amer ...

. As a junior, he played in all 13 games and for the third straight year led the team with 52 receptions for 577 yards and four touchdowns. Bell set numerous Nebraska records his senior season in 2014. Against

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and w ...

he broke the career receptions record which had been held by Nate Swift. A few weeks later against

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 ...

he broke

Johnny Rodgers Johnny Steven Rodgers (born July 5, 1951) is an American former football player. He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and won the Heisman Trophy in 1972. Rodgers played professionally in the Canadian Football League (CFL) ...

career receiving yards record. He played in all 13 games that year and for the fourth straight season he led the team in receiving, becoming the first player in school history to do so all four years. Bell earned first-team All-Big Ten Conference honors after recording 47 receptions for 788 yards with six touchdowns. Bell started 49-of-53 games played at the University of Nebraska, finishing his career ranked first in school history in receptions (181) and receiving yards (2,689) as well as third in receiving touchdowns (21). He made the most starts on offense (49) in school history and posted 51 kickoff returns for 1,277 yards (25.0 avg.) with one touchdown during his career.

Professional career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The

selected Bell in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft at pick 162, using the pick they acquired from the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

in exchange for

Jeremy Zuttah Jeremy Kwasi Zuttah (born June 1, 1986) is a former American football center. He played college football at Rutgers and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He also played with the Baltimore Ravens a ...

. He spent the 2015 season on the Buccaneers' injured reserve list following a preseason hamstring injury; he did not have any catches in the first two preseason games. On September 3, 2016, he was released by the Buccaneers as part of final roster cuts.

Baltimore Ravens

On October 5, 2016, Bell was signed to the

' practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Ravens on January 2, 2017. On August 18, 2017, Bell was waived/injured by the Ravens and placed on injured reserve. He was released on August 20, 2017. He was re-signed to the Ravens' practice squad on October 24, 2017.

Denver Broncos

On January 17, 2018, Bell signed a reserve/future contract with the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

. He was waived/injured on August 3, 2018 and was placed on injured reserve. He was released four days later.

Salt Lake Stallions

In October 2018, Bell joined the

Salt Lake Stallions The Salt Lake Stallions were a professional American football franchise based in Salt Lake City, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which began play in February 2019. The Stallions were the northernmost team i ...

of the Alliance of American Football. The league ceased operations in April 2019.

Personal life

His father, Ken Bell, played for the Broncos from 1986–89, totaling more than 2,000 career yards in kickoff returns. He is canonically included in the

Better Call Saul ''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...

series Season 6 Episode 10.

References

External links

Nebraska Cornhuskers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Kenny 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Boulder, Colorado Players of American football from Colorado American football wide receivers Nebraska Cornhuskers football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Baltimore Ravens players Denver Broncos players Salt Lake Stallions players