This Hard Hitter Will Ring Your Bell Small-Town Recruit A Big Success At Ua

It was the first day of college and Marcus Bell was wandering around a little wide-eyed, a little lost.

The University of Arizona was just about seven times the size of his home town of St. Johns, Ariz., so Bell’s stumbling was understandable.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Bell. “I walked into my first class and there were like 400 people.

“I thought we were having an assembly or something. I’m sitting there waiting for them to bring out the slide projector. I mean our whole school in St. Johns only had 400 people.”

Well, this was the big time and Bell, whether he believed it or not, had made it.

Three years later, Bell is the big time. The 6-2, 230-pounder middle linebacker leads the Pac-10’s top-ranked defense with 97 tackles. The next-closest teammate has 49.

“He’s big, he’s fast and he hits hard,” said Washington State coach Mike Price. “Every time, he hits hard.”

“It’s just always wanting to get to the ball, to have the desire and the hustle to make the play,” said Bell. “That’s what makes a good linebacker.

“That’s what you have to have.”

What Bell didn’t always have was the size for Division I. He was an undersized, overlooked kid who hit like he had Peterbilt stamped across his helmet but played for one of the smaller schools in a remote area of the state. Not many believed he could get a Pac-10 scholarship, especially Bell.

“I’d always followed Arizona and stuff and liked the way they played defense,” he said. “But I was being recruited by Utah State, UNLV and teams like that.”

After all, Bell was a tweener - a 6-foot-2, 180-pounder who played the secondary throughout high school. Even Arizona thought he might be a fullback or tight end.

“But I wanted to hit,” Bell said.

Always has, ever since he felt and heard that crunch when that unfortunate receiver came across the middle on a slant back in the seventh grade.

Those crunches are louder and more frequent now. The Wildcats, at 8-1, are off to their best start in more than 20 years. If they beat the Cougars on Saturday, the 9-1 mark will be their best ever after 10 games. They have climbed to No. 10 in the nation and second in the Pac-10.

And while everyone is pointing to their offense, it’s the defense, which is allowing only 16 points per game, that is leading the way.

In fact, last week the Wildcats held Oregon, a team that had been averaging more than 40 points per game, to three.

Of course, Bell wasn’t satisfied.

“Three points, that’s three too many,” he said. “We should of shut them out.

“This defense is not going to be satisfied until it doesn’t allow any rushing yards, no passing yards and no points on the board. Zeroes all the way across.”

Uh oh. That doesn’t sound good for the Cougars, who are hanging onto one of the last rungs of the conference offense ladder in just about every statistical category.

What makes this defense so tough are not only the quick active players like Bell, but the guessing game it pushes offenses into.

The flex, as the defense is called, allows DaShon Polk to play either as an extra down lineman or linebacker. This allows the Wildcats to disguise their blitzes and defensive strategy.

“It’s a difficult defense,” said WSU lineman Rob Rainville. “If they run it good, it’s a great thing.”

Idaho ran the flex defense against the Cougars and WSU was able to pick up most of the defensive schemes en route to 479 yards. That was their second-best offensive day this season.

But Idaho’s a far cry from Arizona.

“The way they ran it was probably not as efficient as Arizona does,” said Rainville. “Arizona’s got a lot of speed and they fly around to the ball.

“It looks like they do luck into a lot of things, but I’m sure it’s planned.”

“It allows you to do everything as a defensive player,” said Bell. “You can sit back and read or you can attack.”

It comes as no shock that Bell attacks most of the time. He has 10 tackles for loss, including three sacks, a forced fumble and blocked kick this season.

“Hustle, that’s what it is,” he said.

Yeah, hustle and finally figuring out his surroundings.