By Nate Allen
Special to the News-Times
FAYETTEVILLE – Back in Junction City, they might start calling Jamario Bell the celebrity apprentice.
An outstanding high school résumé on both sides of the ball at his alma mater made Bell a nationally regarded 4-star prospect.
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema and primary in-state recruiter Barry Lunney were compelled to keep Bell in Arkansas with the 2015 recruiting class.
Arkansas out-recruited the coaching staffs at Louisville and Auburn en route to gaining Bell's services.
Bell apprenticed last fall while redshirting on defense. He competed a little bit at linebacker and mostly at defensive end.
However, during spring ball, Bielema decided Bell was most suited to the tight end position. Bell had previous experience at tight end as he played the position – along with defensive end – at Junction City.
Bell happily concurs even apprenticing again. He’s behind in experience in the quest to backup Mackey Award watch list tight end Jeremy Sprinkle.
Reserves Jack Kraus and Anthony Antwine have multiple Razorback seasons behind them.
Redshirt freshmen Will Gragg, Cheyenne O’Grady and Austin Cantrell are all well acquainted with Lunney, who's also the tight ends coach.
“Jamario we moved late through spring,” Lunney said. “So he’s a little behind in the learning curve because he spent the first year learning the defense. We all know that in a pro-style offense in particular there is tons for a tight end to learn.”
It is more difficult, Lunney asserted, for Bell to find instant stardom moving from defense to tight end.
Compare Bell's transition to that of AJ Derby, the 2014 fifth-year senior who moved from quarterback to tight end, and there's a big difference.
“AJ Derby didn’t move to different sides of the ball,” Lunney said. “He moved from a position, quarterback, that you learn more about the offense than any other. So his transition was easy because of his knowledge of the offense. When you switch sides of the ball, it’s hard. And Jamario got behind and we knew that he would be behind. So he just has to continue to progress and develop.”
Bell also has to learn from Sprinkle, the uber-talented fifth-year senior.
“He tells me the right from wrong things,” Bell said. “Sprink has been a blessing to me.”
It’s better, Bell said, to be behind at the right spot then another year spent at maybe the wrong spot. For when he played both offense and defense for Junction City Coach David Carpenter, Bell said he most enjoyed offense.
“I really feel like I am back where I belong playing tight end,” Bell said. “I really wanted to play tight end here the whole time but they asked me to play defense and I did whatever they tell me, which was play defense. But I really like tight end.”
Even though he lacks experience, Bell insists he'll eventually catch up.
“I believe I can come in and win a position and come in and play somewhere,” Bell said.
Lunney shares Bell's enthusiasm.
“We moved him because we wanted to find a more natural fit for him,” Lunney said. “Because goodness – he is a great looking prospect and has hands that are great.”
Bell has slimmed down from being between 270 to 280 pounds as a former defensive end, to a 252-pound pass-catcher.
“That’s where they want me to be faster and quicker,” Bell said. “I think my strengths are the passing game because the running game I don’t know all the plays and everything right now.”
Bell calls his biggest adjustment: “Probably just learning the playbook and going from tackling guys to running away from guys.”
Most importantly, Bell said he has matured and learned from a few freshman detours to become what Bielema wants him to be.
“I really grew up academically and going to the classroom and being on time for stuff,” Bell said. “I just started trusting Coach B and being in his system.”
Lunney smiles as Bell begins to bloom.
“He’s a great kid and he wants to do well,” Lunney said. “He’s got some awfully good skills. He is a natural ball-catcher. And if he’ll just be patient, I think he will really like the results.”