Kenny Bell (born February 25, 1992) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. He played

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Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

and was selected by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

in the fifth round of the

2015 NFL draft The 2015 NFL draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football, football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park ...

Early life

Bell attended Fairview High School in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

, where he was a three-sport star in

, track and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. 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''. In basketball, Bell helped his team to the state title game as a senior. Also a standout track & field 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 gr ...

, he posted a personal-best leap of 7.62 meters (24–9), while in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

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 the state of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, and was rated as a three-star recruit by '' Rivals.com''. Bell committed to play

at Nebraska after also visiting

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and Texas Tech. He also had offers from several other schools, including

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Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and Arizona State.

College career

Bell attended Nebraska from 2010 to 2014. As a freshman, he was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

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

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

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

he broke

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

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

at pick 162, using the pick they acquired from the

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

in exchange for Jeremy Zuttah. 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 Ravens' 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 team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

. 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 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 to 1989, 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 legal crime drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould for AMC. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–201 ...

'' series Season 6 Episode 10.

References

External links

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