Offered guard talks about Ole Miss visit
Jackson (Callaway), MS offensive guard Justin Bell was one of several prospects that showed up for Ole Miss' recent junior day event and is also a prospect to which the Rebels have already extended an early offer.
"Everything went really well at Ole Miss," Bell said after visiting the last Saturday of January. "I got to talk to the coaches and toured the facilities."
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Bell has already received offers from Ole Miss and Mississippi State and is receiving interest from Southern Miss. The January visit was his second to Ole Miss - he also visited in December as the Rebels were preparing for their Cotton Bowl game.
Bell said he got to talk with Ole Miss co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Mike Markuson during his visit.
"Coach Markuson told me they'd really like to have me at Ole Miss," Bell said. "He told me that I was one of the big pieces they need at Ole Miss for their next recruiting class."
Bell said he didn't grow up a particular fan of either Ole Miss or Mississippi State, preferring instead to just pull for both teams against various opponents and keeping an eye on "how the big guys played and how aggressive they were."
However, early indications are that there will be another battle between the two in-state schools for Bell's services. He plans to attend Mississippi State's junior day on Feb. 13, and also to make some appearances at future events of both schools.
"I'm going to both of their spring games," he said. I'm also going to camp at both schools."
He said he has no timeline for making a verbal commitment and is "pretty neutral" when it comes to having an early favorite in the recruiting process.
At 6-foot-3, 320 pounds, Bell said he projects at the guard position at the next level, but wouldn't discount trying his hand at center, if needed, having played some at center during his ninth grade year.
He feels he has some strengths to bring to the table in college, but realizes he has some work to do.
"I'd say I'm a better pass blocker than a run blocker, so I need to work on that," he said. "I can hold my own in run blocking, but I need to block better at the next level. "I just want to work on all aspects of my game. I'm never satisfied and want to improve my strength and all aspects of my game."
Bell reports a 3.18 GPA and said his current class standing is at 14 among 228 students and he recently scored a 17 on his first ACT attempt.
"My calculator died during the test, so I had to take it without it and my score on the math portion was just 16, which pulled me down some. I'm going to re-take it to see if I can improve my score."