Senior offensive lineman Justin Bell has been a big part of the Rebels front five on the field and as a leader in the locker room.
The line has dealt with adversity all season from injuries to NCAA suspensions, forcing the Rebels into scramble mode and moving certain offensive linemen to other positions along the line. The Rebels looked poised to return to full strength with the addition of All-American Laremy Tunsil until starting center Robert Conyers tore his ACL Saturday against Memphis. Conyers will be out the remainder of the season. With Conyers out, Bell, who is primarily a guard, has been taking reps at center to see if he can help fill in.
“We’ll see how it goes. I just have to trust my snaps. Sometimes my snaps come back there a little too fast, but we worked on it yesterday, and they looked pretty good,” Bell said. “We’ll see how it goes this week in practice.”
Bell had the opportunity to take more reps and give more of his energy toward center this week.
“Right now, with Conyers being down, it gives me a chance to really focus on it and a chance to really work at it and hopefully make a debut at center,” Bell said.
While it would be Bell’s first collegiate game time at center, he said he was used to playing center and has seen plenty of practice there, as well as some prior experience snapping the ball that goes back to when Bell played Pop Warner football while growing up.
“To be honest with you I enjoy playing center. My first position in football was center,” Bell said. “I played center a little in high school my freshman year, so it just comes natural.”
Even with Bell getting plenty of practice at center, there’s no way to truly simulate what he’ll see from the opposing defense on Saturday. However, Bell feels the Rebel defensive line gives him the best preparation he could have.
“I feel like we have the best d-line in the conference, best d-line in the nation, so I’m going up against the best every day in practice. So I’m pretty sure transitioning to the game wouldn’t be too tough on me,” Bell said. “The coaches love the fact that I know the offense, and I know the terminology. It’s just getting the game reps in, so we’ll see how they go.”
Losing Conyers is certainly a blow for the Rebels, but Tunsil’s return helps alleviate some of that lost depth.
“It’s bittersweet. It’s always hard losing a brother. Getting Laremy back, that’s a sweet part of it,” Bell said. “He has that extra little push. He’s another leader that we need up front.”
Bell saw an immediate impact from Tunsil returning to the group in practice.
“He had a lot of energy. He brought a lot of talkative leadership out of the guys. You could just see in his eyes how he’s excited to be back,” Bell said. “We’re happy to have him back.”
