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Texas State's Ben Bell hopes to follow in his older brother Levi's NFL footsteps

keff ciardello
·4 min read
Texas State linebacker Ben Bell is moving from linebacker to a down lineman spot as the Bobcats switch to a 4-2-5 alignment.
Texas State linebacker Ben Bell is moving from linebacker to a down lineman spot as the Bobcats switch to a 4-2-5 alignment.

SAN MARCOS — Filling the shoes of defensive lineman Levi Bell won’t be an easy task for the Bobcats, but they’ve picked a successor who isn’t afraid to try: his younger brother, Ben Bell.

The Bell brothers, both out of Cedar Park, aren’t on the same team for the first time in three seasons. The duo paired up at Louisiana Tech in 2020 and 2021 before transferring to Texas State for the 2022 season.

Texas State was the fourth collegiate stop for Levi, after starting at the College of Idaho in 2018 and moving to Tyler Junior College in 2019. After three starts in two years at Louisiana Tech, his lone season with the Bobcats was a breakout year. He earned second-team All-Sun Belt honors, recording 66 tackles, 13½ for loss, with five sacks and seven quarterback hurries.

That propelled him into the pro levels, first playing for the Michigan Panthers of the USFL before recently signing with the Seattle Seahawks. Ben, now a Bobcats junior, hopes to follow the path his older brother carved.

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“Before he was about to go into tryouts with the Seahawks, he told me, ‘Bro, just follow my footsteps. I know you can do it.’” Bell said. “My whole life, we’ve been best buds. Side by side. So I finally get to see that he did it. It just kind of gives me encouragement that I can do it, too."

Ben Bell didn’t have to go the junior college route like his older brother, attending Louisiana Tech after graduating from Cedar Park in 2020. He led the Bulldogs in sacks in 2021 and then spent the 2022 season at outside linebacker with the Bobcats. He didn’t start but appeared in all 12 games with 25 tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks and four hurries.

Coach G.J. Kinne says the Bobcats' 2023 recruiting class is complete with 52 players on board, including an Oklahoma State receiver and a Baylor defensive lineman who arrived just before camp.
Coach G.J. Kinne says the Bobcats' 2023 recruiting class is complete with 52 players on board, including an Oklahoma State receiver and a Baylor defensive lineman who arrived just before camp.

With first-year head coach G.J. Kinne comes a new defensive scheme under coordinator Jonathan Patke, switching from a three-down front to a 4-2-5 formation. That change puts Bell on the defensive line for the first time at Texas State. To prepare, he said, he added 30 pounds, and he's now listed at 6 feet 2, 250 pounds.

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“I personally like it so much better because you don’t have to think,” Bell said. “They are letting us just go attack. Just play football and go off of instincts. That’s really what D-line is all about is reacting off those instincts.”

He has the size and the lineage, but with 10 defensive linemen among the 52 signees for 2023, there will be competition. That’s another challenge he welcomes.

“Iron sharpens iron, and everyone is swinging,” he said. “There’s about to be some sparks.”

Recruiting: After the first practice of fall camp last week, Kinne finally announced that the 2023 recruiting class was complete with 52 signees. The last two transferred from Big 12 schools just before camp — Oklahoma State receiver Langston Anderson and Baylor defensive lineman Victor Obi. Of the 25 FBS transfers in this class, 18 came from Power Five programs.

The focus has shifted to the 2024 class, which already has more high school pledges (nine) than the 2023 class signed (seven). All nine pledges hail from Texas high schools, with seven committing over the past two weeks.

Two-thirds of the 2024 pledges are at two positions, with three receivers (Emerson’s Kylen Evans, Waco La Vega’s Junior Thornton and Dallas Kimball’s Jordan Martin) and three defensive backs (Newton’s Railyn Adams, Houston Westbury’s Chris Jones and Spring Westfield’s Carson Williams). San Antonio Reagan quarterback Brad Jackson, Houston Clear Springs linebacker Michael Sylvalie and Crowley defensive lineman Priest Ashe round out the pledges.

Volleyball: Texas State will host UTSA on Aug. 19 for an exhibition match before starting the season in Knoxville for the Tennessee Classic on Aug. 25. The Bobcats' home opener will be in the Texas State Invitational on Aug. 31, starting with North Texas before playing Houston on Sept. 2.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas State linebacker Ben Bell draws inspiration from brother Levi