Blake Bell gave up playing quarterback for his team. It made the Super Bowl possible
Like every kid with pro football aspirations, Blake Bell grew up in Wichita picturing himself scoring touchdowns for his favorite team in the Super Bowl.
On Sunday, Bell will have a chance to live out that fantasy when he suits up for the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV against the San Francisco 49ers in Miami. The scenario is almost too good to be true for the Bishop Carroll and Oklahoma graduate, but it does have one alteration from those childhood dreams.
“I was always the quarterback,” said Bell of his visions. “Even going through high school and college, there was no way that I was ever going to say I’d play tight end.”
It’s rare for a heralded quarterback prospect to willingly decide to give up the glory, attention and control that comes from playing the position. It’s even more rare to find a quarterback who would trade that in for a job out of the spotlight, let alone possessing the physical and mental strength to play a position like tight end.
But in many ways, Bell was ready his whole life for such a challenge.
From the outside looking in, it may seem like Bell has had to undergo a complete transformation. But to those who know him, the Blake Bell millions will watch play on the biggest stage on Sunday is the same person they’ve known all along.
‘Stay hungry and stay humble’
It came as no surprise when Blake Bell showed early signs of athletic greatness. He’s the son of Mark Bell, who played six seasons in the NFL, and the nephew of Mike Bell, a defensive end who played 12 years for the Chiefs.
Blake was a standout three-sport athlete at St. Francis, a Catholic grade school, where he excelled in football, basketball and baseball.
“The thing we always tried to teach Blake from day one was to stay hungry and stay humble,” said Mark Bell, who coached his son in the offseason. “He’s never been one of those real cocky athletes. Every situation I’ve ever seen him be in, he’s always done the same thing. Nothing ever gets to him. He always stays grounded, stays level-headed.”
That was put to the test when he reached Bishop Carroll, where he became one of the nation’s most sought-after quarterback prospects in the 2010 class. He was chosen Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year two years in a row, which has only happened three times since the award’s creation in 1985. Measuring in at 6-foot-6 and 215 pounds, Blake possessed all of the physical tools that had college coaches from all over the country trying to recruit him. ESPN even televised one of his high school games.
Not to mention that he was also an all-state basketball player and was drafted in the 43rd round in the 2010 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers.
It was impossible to escape the attention and hype that accompanied his success.
“Blake was one of the top quarterbacks in the country, but you would have never known it,” said Alan Schuckman, who was the head coach of the Bishop Carroll football team. “He acted like he was just one of the guys because that’s what he was. He didn’t want to be treated any differently and he wasn’t. He had all kinds of opportunities to be thinking a lot more of himself than he actually did.”
More times than not, Blake Bell was the most talented and gifted player every time he stepped on the football field. He had every reason to be cocky because he had the ability to back it up.
But talk to his teammates at Bishop Carroll, and even his opponents from around the City League, and Blake Bell never allowed arrogance to seep in.
“Blake was just a normal guy, a good friend, everything you would want in a good buddy,” said Tim Chadd, a classmate and teammate at Carroll who remains close to Blake today. “He’s still the same guy today that I grew up with. (The success) hasn’t changed anything about him. He’s the same and I think he’ll always be that way.”
All Blake Bell was concerned with was working hard and winning, yet it was those two things that brought him unwanted attention. It was how he handled himself in the spotlight while in high school that first showed that he would one day be ready to sacrifice his ego for the good of his team.
“Blake knew that he had what it took to win, but it wasn’t like he was ever going to throw it in somebody’s face,” said his uncle, Mike Bell. “That was never his style. He was never someone that the other teams hated because he had great success and he was cocky. Blake is a guy you want to pull for because he’s so humble and he just wants to prove it on the field.”
‘His perseverance is second to none’
It didn’t take long for Blake Bell to become a national sensation at Oklahoma, where head coach Bob Stoops created a short-yardage package with Bell at quarterback. He scored 24 touchdowns in his first two seasons at OU, as fans nicknamed him “The Belldozer” in reference to his 250-pound frame and physical running style.
“He’s still a folk hero,” Schuckman said. “When I talk to people all over the country and tell them that Belldozer played for me, everybody knows who that is.”
After playing his role and waiting his turn for two seasons, Bell was presumed to be OU’s starting quarterback as a junior. But those plans were dashed when Stoops chose freshman Trevor Knight to open the 2013 season at QB.
After an injury to Knight, Bell started eight games but sustained a concussion and didn’t play in OU’s season-ending Sugar Bowl win over Alabama. But perhaps his most memorable game was his last at quarterback for OU. He came in during the fourth quarter as a third-string quarterback and led the Sooners to a thrilling, come-from-behind victory highlighted by his game-winning touchdown pass with 19 seconds remaining.
“A lot of players couldn’t have dealt with (getting benched) mentally,” Schuckman said. “But Blake is built different. He seems to get stronger and stronger every time an opportunity didn’t go the way everybody else thought it should go. He just looked at it as a new challenge to get better.”
His family was frustrated that he didn’t get a full season to prove himself at quarterback. And as a former five-star quarterback prospect, it would have been understandable — even expected in today’s culture — for him to transfer so he could play quarterback for his final season.
But when Bell met with his family after the season, he was resolute.
“He never once thought about transferring because things didn’t go his way,” said his father, Mark Bell. “I tried to teach my son that the road is not always going to be easy and there are going to be ups and downs. No matter what seems to come up, Blake seems to take things head on. He doesn’t complain, he just goes to work and stays the course. As a father, I’m so proud of that.”
“His perseverance is second to none,” Schuckman said. “He never flinched. I remember asking him after the season if he wanted my help finding another place to go play quarterback at and he said, ‘No, I’m an OU Sooner and I’m going to graduate an OU Sooner.’ That just shows you all you need to know about his commitment and his loyalty.”
After a discussion with his coaches, it was determined that Bell could still help OU win — but as a tight end.
‘We always hoped for something like this’
Mark Bell had to admit that a tiny part of him was excited when he heard that his son was to play tight end, the position that he played in the NFL.
But he also knew the physical demands the position requires of a player, an extreme from the position that Blake was coming from.
“That’s such a big change when you’ve never had your hand in the ground before,” Mark Bell said. “You go from wearing a red shirt in practice and nobody can touch you to going to a full-contact role. He went from the guy that you see every snap to the guy that’s hardly visible. But honestly, I think Blake relished it.”
Blake Bell was never caught up in the glamour of playing quarterback. It was just the position where he could always help his team win the most.
“He doesn’t have an ego, so I think that’s why the transition was so easy for him,” Schuckman said. “It’s the players that are egotistical that have problems doing what’s best for the team. Whatever his team needed him to do to win, that’s what Blake was about and that just personifies his character.”
Blake Bell didn’t post gaudy statistics his senior year at OU, but his size, athleticism and raw talent at tight end were enough to convince the 49ers to select him in the fourth round with the 117th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.
He quickly discovered what his father and uncle both already knew: that NFL can stand for “Not For Long.” Bell played two years for the 49ers before being released. He was picked up by the Minnesota Vikings for the 2017 season, then dumped. He was picked up by the Jacksonville Jaguars for the 2018 season, then dumped. He caught a combined 30 passes for 357 yards in his first four seasons.
But Bell caught a break when he signed a contract last April with the Chiefs, the team he grew up rooting for. He’s become a mainstay as a blocking tight end for the Chiefs and even caught his first career touchdown earlier in the playoffs against the Houston Texans in the AFC Divisional round.
“Having Blake in Kansas City is like having him home,” said Mark Bell, his father. “I mean, my boy plays for the Kansas City Chiefs, what could be better than that?”
His father and uncle have both been living vicariously through Blake during this Super Bowl run. They both know the significance of reaching the Super Bowl. They played in the NFL for a combined 18 seasons, but never reached this stage. They know how much training, sacrifice and luck goes into it.
“I played on some really good teams ... Chiefs teams that made it to the playoffs and teams where we thought we could make the Super Bowl,” Mike Bell said. “We always dreamed about this. Shoot, every kid when they’re 7 years old in the backyard dreams about playing in the Super Bowl. This is the ultimate achievement, our sport’s pinnacle. I know a lot of players who worked their whole lives for a chance to make it to this game and they never did. So this is something truly special.”
Blake Bell would not have reached the Super Bowl if he remained at quarterback.
Not many would have given up the spotlight and the attention, but he never had a problem putting his ego aside when he was the star player with all eyes on him.
Out of the spotlight and into the Super Bowl, that’s exactly how Blake Bell prefers it.
“Who could have ever thought something like this was possible back in the St. Francis days?” Mike Bell said, laughing. “I mean, we always hoped for something like this, dreamed of something like this. But honestly, you never thought something like this was possible. You can’t really fathom the story, it’s that amazing.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 12:16 PM.
.jpg)