Our Honor Defend

Getting there.

In this 12th installment of the 2nd edition of this now 25-part series titled Better Know A Buckeye, I finally arrive at one of the more high profile names in the 2009 class.  Dorian Bell, a linebacker from Monroeville, Pennsylvania, was one of the more visible names to publicly commit to Ohio State.  In the process, Bell follows the footsteps of Michael Brewster, Terrelle Pryor, and JB Shugarts, among others, who can’t say no to Ohio State.  Below, I recap his brief recruitment, culminating in his April 21st decision.  Afterwards, I follow the usual routine, discussing his strengths, weaknesses and miscellaneous things of passing importance.  Afterwards, I conclude he is better known and put him on the proverbial board, which is now almost 50 percent full.

Height: 6’2
Weight: 220lbs
40: 4.54
High School: Gateway SHS; Monroeville, PA

His Recruitment

If you haven’t heard by now, Dorian Bell is kind of a big deal and has been one for awhile.  He may have been one of the best players in the state of Pennsylvania regardless of class¹ by the summer of 2007.  Everyone of consequence had already extended verbal offers, including Ohio State.  While I’m a little unclear of the chronology here, I do know that Bell (along with several of his teammates) was at Ohio State in January for a visit.  It didn’t take long for Ohio State to offer, though I’m not exactly sure when they did².  Ohio State wasn’t alone.  By the end of the summer, he counted 10 verbal offers, though could only recall offers from Ohio State, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Michigan and Akron in that article.  Whichever way you slice it, he was a hot commodity in recruiting.  The story of how my ol’ buddy Nick Saban³ offered shows how quickly Bell was turning heads.

After playing just one full varsity season, he’s earned scholarship offers from Boston College, Ohio State, Penn State, Pitt and West Virginia, among others. When Alabama coach Nick Saban visited Gateway to take a look at (Shayne) Hale, Smith popped in one of Bell’s highlight tapes, and Saban offered Bell on the spot.

Shayne Hale was an Army All-American, and Saban came from that trip interested in Dorian Bell.  That’s saying something.

September 1st is the first day juniors can receive written scholarship offers, as the case of Jordan Whiting reminds us.  Ohio State wasted little time in signalling their interest in Bell by having his scholarship offer waiting for him in his mailbox soon after.  For a guy who previously expressed no preference towards any school and an agnosticism to this inchoate process in general, the enthusiasm exhibited by Dorian seemed sincere.

“I just got the papers today,” Bell said on Tuesday night. “I got the written offer (from Ohio State). They told me they were going to (send a written offer). But I was still kind of excited even though I knew it was coming. It’s exciting getting an offer from them being so young and all.”

“It was pretty overwhelming,” he said.  “It’s my first big-time offer.  I’m interested in Ohio State.  I think I’ll get to an Ohio State game two or three times.”

Though his verbal offer sheet was extensive by this point, his only written offers were from Pitt, Boston College and Akron.  That would change throughout the remainder of 2007.  By the end of the year, he added written offers from Ohio State, Rutgers, West Virginia, Alabama, Illinois, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Penn State⁴, Colorado, and Tennessee.  The football season necessarily precluded Dorian from making too much progress in his recruitment, but he did take a trip to Michigan to watch the Wolvereenies pounce on the Irish.  He expressed no favorites this early into the process, but Ohio State was constantly in the list of schools mentioned by Dorian.

Offers came in sporadically by this time.  Most notably, Florida State appeared on Dorian’s radar.  They were actually the school Dorian followed in his youth.  UNC offered as well.  The big picture take from these updates in the first two months of 2008 was the possibility of a packaged deal of Dorian and his teammate Corey Brown — another phenomenal athlete whose feature will be forthcoming before too long.  Both Corey and Dorian went on the February visit to Chapel Hill to check out UNC.  In that same update, Don Callahan stated that Corey and Dorian would continue to take all their visits together, including the visit to Happy Valley in April.  Moreover, it was likely that Corey and Dorian would go to the same college.  If Ohio State could secure Dorian, it might also secure one of the best “package deals” in all of 2009 recruiting.  It would be a perfect follow up to signing one of the best package deals in the country in 2008 (Adams-Stoneburner, Howard-Sabino).

Fortunately, by the beginning of April, Ohio State seemed to be well on its way to making that a reality.  Dorian was open to going wherever he needed to by this stage, but later admitted that he had long been interested in Ohio State ever since his first visit there.  Admittedly, there may be a bias inherent in interviews with team affiliates, but the words Dorian offered to Bill Greene at the end of March were overwhelmingly positive.  He admitted that Ohio State stuck out on his list of offers, which by this time even included Oklahoma and Florida.  He discussed being recruited by Joe Daniels, who is the point-man for Ohio State in Western PA recruiting.  He also mentioned his lengthy correspondences with Jim Tressel, which — as you’ll hear so many people mention — football only rarely came up in conversation.   A visit a few months earlier on Junior Day — yes: that Junior Day — allowed Dorian to check out the facilities and watch a basketball game, earning rave reviews from Dorian and his family.

Further, he let it be known that he was going to be at the Spring Game, and that he had been waiting along time for the visit.  The details of this article are fascinating.  First, Dorian mentioned that Luke Fickell agreed to save #1 as a jersey number for him.  Second, Dorian wouldn’t confirm or deny that a commitment may be coming.  Why would Luke Fickell save a jersey number for Dorian — one that he will indeed wear immediately at Ohio State — if Dorian is saying he has no favorites, per se, and that a commitment may or may not come? Why indeed.  Further, knowing that he and Corey planned on attending the same college, why would Dorian make this impassioned plea to Bill Kurelic?

I had a long conversation with Dorian Bell late last night and will have a premium article posted shortly. At the end of our conversation Bell said to me, “Can I make a request?” I said sure. Bell then said, “Please get (Ohio State) to offer Corey (Brown).” Corey Brown is of course one of Bell’s teammates. Bell said where Brown goes would not be a factor in his decision, but it would be nice if they ended up at the same school.

Mhmmm…

Moreover, while he pled the fifth on the idea of recruiting, why would he be overheard by Buckeye recruiting/photography mainstay JWinslow having this conversation with Storm Klein?

Passed Dorian on my way out of the elevator.

Storm Klein: “So how many schools are you looking at on your list?”
Dorian Bell: “None.”

Mhmmm

His Commitment

Word of Dorian’s commitment initially came from everyone else except the horse’s mouth.  That is, it wasn’t an explicit commitment.  Consider:

Bell said his father and uncle also enjoyed the trip.

“They liked it,” Bell said.  “They gave it a 9 out of 10.  I’d give it a 50.  No, a 50 million.”

Bell was also asked if his parents would be OK with him at Ohio State?

“They know their son is going to a great place,” he said.  “They feel safe with me going there.”

And finally, when asked if Buckeye fans would see him playing for the Scarlet and Gray someday, Bell said, “Yes.”

However, he stopped just short of issuing a commitment.  At least, he wanted to wait until Monday, when a 2:00pm press conference would be held at his high school to announce what most everyone knew was coming: he was going to commit to Ohio State.  Sure enough, he did.  The Spring Game he attended with his father and his uncle did the trick, though Dorian’s interest in Ohio State was in earnest since his first visit to Columbus as a sophomore.  Perhaps all that was needed was the rest of the weekend to float the decision past mom.  Dorian explained what it was about Ohio State that made it such an obvious choice.

“When I went up there – I visited like four times – and it felt like I never left home. It was just great with the atmosphere and the fans. Everybody there just showed me love. When I walked in the stadium for the spring game, they were screaming my name and asking for my autograph. I was like, ‘Wow, how do they even know who I am?’ That just shows you what kind of fans they have at Ohio State.”

That’s certainly a far cry from his previous intentions to go somewhere where he can play immediately, though he still wants to see the field as a freshman.

His April 21st commitment makes him the ninth commitment in the 2009 class.  At the time, Darrell Givens’ commitment made Dorian the 10th.  Givens’ change of heart makes Dorian no. 9 for our purposes.  His decision also makes Dorian the first real marquee name in the class.  Ohio State’s class already included All-Americans like Jack Mewhort and Jamie Wood, but Dorian was the first commitment to Ohio State in this class that had an offer sheet from all the power players nationwide.  His commitment also means we basically poached Western PA — Penn State territory — for its best linebacker for the second consecutive year.  Arguments obviously follow about who really is “the best” linebacker in the region, and the Nitts are certainly not wanting at the position, but back-to-back commitments from Andrew Sweat and Dorian Bell make this an obvious poaching.

Where He Excels

Dorian’s head coach, Terry Smith, called Dorian the best player he’s ever coached.  This was after only two years as a varsity player, and with Shayne Hale still on the roster at Gateway.  That’s high praise.  Truly, there’s so much to like about Dorian that it’s hard to consider where to start.  As I mentioned in his commitment post, I really think Dorian Bell was manufactured in a Pennsylvania factory by a team of the state’s finest engineers whose task was to create a machine built solely for TFLs.  As Gabby added: TFLs, and unrestrained mayhem.

One thing that stood out immediately is how well Dorian times his blitzes.  I know fans say we don’t blitz enough out of Heacock’s zone defense, but even when we’d bring Laurinaitis or Homan, I felt both tipped their hand to soon.  We may see soon enough what Dorian will do at Ohio State, but he timed and concealed his blitzes incredibly well at Gateway.  He anticipates the snap count very well, and I’m optimistic that he could bring that with him to Columbus.

It certainly helps that Dorian brings speed and excellent change of direction skills with him to Columbus.  He runs a 4.5 40 at the moment, and is working hard now to get that to at least a 4.49.  I’m not sure how much fast-twitch training Dorian does, but if he does: it shows.

Last, but certainly not least, he’s overly violent on the gridiron and, most importantly, runs through ballcarriers.  There are more than a few hits in his highlight film below that will have you saying “ouch”.  He has speed, he has great instincts, and basically goes into rampage mode.  All things considered, the tools are there to be an amazing weakside linebacker, perfect for playing against spread offenses.

Must Work On

Dorian is a little undersized and will need to add mass.  Of course, everyone his age needs to get bigger.  Fortunately, his frame appears to be the kind that will allow him to add good bulk without compromising his speed.  This will be the challenge for Dorian: getting bigger, and maintaining or improving his speed.  I don’t want him to be too big, since I see him as a Buckeye equivalent of a player like Rico McCoy: smaller, but faster, outside linebacker.  In that same vein, if he doesn’t get bigger, he’s going to be a relatively easy target for a lineman on the pull.

Redshirt?

He doesn’t think so.  Neither do I.  He’ll either factor into the two deep at linebacker, or will play special teams as a freshman.  If he works hard enough, he may even start as a true freshman.  However, I still think the starting linebackers will feature Homan, Sabino and Spitler.  I’m less sure about that strongside spot (Spitler).  Nevertheless, the odds are against Dorian here, but he’ll see the field in some respect.

Highlights

He also ran the ball often for Gateway.  If you’re interested, you could also watch Dorian Bell and Corey Brown discuss their respective commitments in this video⁵.

Miscellany

• Dorian was one of five future Buckeyes to play in this year’s Army All-American Bowl.  He was joined by teammate Corey Brown, Jamie Wood, John Simon and Marcus Hall.
• Speaking of John Simon, his Cardinal Mooney team and Dorian’s Gateway Gators played in the 2007 Herbstreit Challenge.  Mooney won big (27-6).  All Dorian could register was a sack, which I believe you see in the clip shown above.
• One of my favorite elements to Dorian’s story are some of the casual disses of rivals Penn State and Michigan, who were both recruiting him hard.  Here’s what Dorian had to say about Penn State as his second option (when he committed to Ohio State):

“Penn State was second in my mind,” Bell said. “But it wasn’t a close call. Ohio State was a trillion miles ahead of Penn State. Ohio State was just far ahead of everybody.”

He talked about first visiting Michigan as a sophomore, which was followed by his first visit to Ohio State.  Dorian compared the two:

“I loved it at Michigan. Then I went to Ohio State, and it was like, ‘Bye Michigan,’” Bell said.

• Most clips of Dorian Bell praticing feature him hollering and yelling quite prominently.  You can see part of it here at this Army All-American Bowl practice.  This was also evident in what Rivals decided to share of his experience at the NIKE Camp at Penn State.  Again: I like this.  As I wrote yesterday, the time for niceties is over.  Someone’s gotta pay.
• The more I read about his head coach (Terry Smith), the more I like him.  Smith is a Penn State grad and former player for Paterno, but is very open and honest with his players and their own individual recruiting classes.  Some of his former players end up at Penn State (i.e, Justin King), but players like Shayne Hale wound up at Pitt and Dorian Bell and Corey Brown are going to Ohio State.
• Corey and Dorian were featured by ESPN.com’s RISE feature.  You can read about them here.
• The Pitt Post-Gazette featured Dorian in their Fabulous 22 feature — incidentally, it was the same one with Terrelle Pryor where Pyror revealed that he likes Fruity Pebbles for breakfast.  In this feature, Dorian disclosed that he likes wearing skateboarding shoes and is a bit of a computer nerd.  Now, if he outed himself as a Linux user, he would easily jump to the lofty status of being my favorite recruit in the class (currently held by Jordan Whiting).
• Golf is one of his hobbies.  He says it’s such a relaxing activity that he tries to squeeze in a few rounds when the weather warms up.
• Footage eludes me at the moment, but Corey was waving an Ohio State flag behind Dorian Bell during his commitment presser.
• More fluff from his Signing Day feature about why he chose Ohio State.

“It’s a great, big family,” Bell said. “(Head coach Jim) Tressel and all the way down, it’s a group of great coaches and I’m looking forward to playing for them. They obviously care about making you the best football player you can be. I want that more than anything. But they also care about turning you into a good man.”

• Superlatives, courtesy of Bucknuts:

* Vital statistics: Bell was the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette all-metro player of the year as a senior. He tallied 116 tackles and seven sacks on defense and also had 83 carries for 885 yards and 17 touchdowns (10.7 average) on offense. Gateway ended up 12-1 after a loss to Bethel Park in the WPIAL Class AAAA championship game. He was an all-state performer as a senior and as a junior, when he tallied 120 sacks and 11 sacks. Bell played in the Hawaii-Mainland all-star game in December as well as the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in January. He and his Gateway teammate Corey Brown signed with the Buckeyes.

* Rankings: ESPN.com ranks him as the nation’s No. 33 prospect overall and also as the nation’s fourth-best outside linebacker prospect. SuperPrep considers Bell as an All-American, ranking him as the nation’s No. 31 prospect overall, the top prospect in the Pennsylvania and the nation’s No. 6 linebacker.

At long last, consider yourself better known, Dorian.

…and, finally: the board.

Class of 2009
Name	Position	Hometown	Better Known?	Name	Position	Hometown	Better Known?
CJ Barnett	DB	Clayton, OH	02.20	Marcus Hall	OL	Glenville, OH
Dorian Bell	LB	Monroeville, PA	04.10	Adam Homan	FB	Coldwater, OH	01.29
Adam Bellamy	DT	Aurora, OH		Carlos Hyde	RB	Naples, FL
Jaamal Berry	RB	Miami, FL		James Jackson	WR	Grand Ledge, TSUN	03.05
Zach Boren	FB	Pickerington, OH	01.22	Storm Klein	LB	Nerk, Ahia	02.02
Corey Brown	WR/DB	Monroeville, PA		Corey Linsley	OL	Youngstown, OH
Duron Carter	WR	Ft. Lauderdale, FL		Sam Longo	OL	Belbrook, OH
Dominic Clarke	DB	Frederick MD	02.11	Jack Mewhort	OL	Toledo, OH	02.05
Melvin Fellows’ Safari Planet	DE	Garfield Heights, OH		Jonathan Newsome	LB/DE	Glenville, OH
Chris Fields	WR	Painesville, OH	04.02	John Simon	DE	Youngstown, OH	03.26
Reid Fragel	TE	Grosse Pointe, TSUN		Jordan Whiting	LB	Louisville, KY	03.12
Kenny Guiton	QB	Aldine, TX		Jamie Wood	DB	Pickerington, OH	02.26
Jordan Hall	ATH	Jeannette, PA

1. Except for that Terrelle Pryor guy. [↩]
2. I believe it came after the offers to Storm Klein and John Simon; ergo, it was in the summer some time. [↩]
3. A friend of mine in the bar scene down here works for him.  She has stories.  They are always fun to hear. [↩]
4. This is surprising to me, since it was my understanding that Penn State typically holds off on scholarships for juniors until after signing day.  That would be a major coup for Dorian if the Nitts couldn’t wait that long. [↩]
5. Of course, now I know why it took me forever to find this video, because I had been searching for Corey Brown, not Courtney Brown. Stupid Fandome. [↩]