Ronnie Bell (American football)

Receptions:	8
Receiving yards:	90
Receiving touchdowns:	3
	Stats at Pro Football Reference

Ronnie Bell
	Bell playing with Michigan against Michigan State in 2019
Personal information
Born:	January 28, 2000 (age 24); Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight:	190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High school:	Park Hill ; (Kansas City, Missouri)
College:	Michigan (2018–2022)
Position:	Wide receiver
NFL draft:	2023 / round: 7 / pick: 253
Career history
	San Francisco 49ers (2023–2024);
Career highlights and awards
	Third-team All-Big Ten (2022);
Career NFL statistics as of Week 6, 2024
Receptions:
Receptions:	8
Receiving yards:	90
Receiving touchdowns:	3
	Stats at Pro Football Reference

Ronald Bell (born January 28, 2000) is an American professional football wide receiver. He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines, winning offensive rookie of the year in 2018, and named an All-Big Ten selection in 2022. He was selected by the 49ers in the 2023 NFL draft.

Early life

Bell was a multi-sport athlete at Park Hill High School in Kansas City, Missouri. As a senior, he caught 89 passes for 1,605 yards and 21 touchdowns, but he was not ranked in the top 1,000 high school football recruits. He originally committed as a basketball player to Missouri State University. After initially receiving no Division I FBS scholarship offers to play football, he was recruited late by Jim Harbaugh and in December 2017 committed to play football for the University of Michigan.^[1]^[2]

College career

Bell enrolled at Michigan in 2018. As a freshman, he had eight receptions for 145 yards and two touchdowns, including a 56-yard touchdown reception against Nebraska.^[3] At the end of the 2018 season, he received the offensive rookie of the year award.^[4]

As a sophomore in 2019, Bell led the team with 81 receiving yards against Army, 81 yards against Wisconsin, 83 yards against Rutgers, 98 yards against Illinois, and 82 yards against Penn State.^[4] After dropping a game-tying pass in the end zone in the closing minutes against Penn State, Bell received national attention for the angry reaction by a Michigan fan and the subsequent rally of fan support behind him.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Against Michigan State on November 16, 2019, Bell had a career-high 150 receiving yards (117 in the first half) on nine catches.^[8]^[9] For the 2019 season, he was the Wolverines' leading receiver with 48 receptions for 758 yards.^[10] Following the 2019 season, Bell was named an honorable mention all-conference selection by the media.^[11]

In the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, he was Michigan's leading receiver for the second consecutive year with 26 receptions and 401 receiving yards.^[12]

Bell's 2021 season ended when he sustained a knee injury in the season opener.^[13]

Against Indiana on October 8, 2022, Bell caught 11 passes for 121 yards.^[14] During the 2022 regular season, Bell was the team's leading receiver for the third time in his career with 62 receptions and 889 receiving yards.^[15]

College statistics

Season	Team	Conf	G	Receiving				Rushing				Returns
Season	Team	Conf	G	Rec	Yds	Avg	TD	Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Ret	Yds	Avg	TD
2018	Michigan	Big Ten	13	8	145	18.1	2	5	-2	-0.4	0	4	60	15.0	0
2019	Michigan	Big Ten	13	48	758	15.8	1	1	9	9.0	0	8	67	8.4	0
2020	Michigan	Big Ten	6	26	401	15.4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2021	Michigan	Big Ten	1	1	76	76.0	1	0	0	0	0	1	31	31.0	0
2022	Michigan	Big Ten	14	62	889	14.3	4	3	23	7.7	1	2	45	22.5	0
Career			47	145	2,269	15.6	9	9	30	3.3	1	15	203	13.5	0
All values from Michigan Athletics^[16]

Professional career

Pre-draft measurables
Height	Weight	Arm length	Hand span	40-yard dash	10-yard split	20-yard split	20-yard shuttle	Three-cone drill	Vertical jump	Broad jump	Bench press
5 ft 11+5⁄8 in (1.82 m)	191 lb (87 kg)	31 in (0.79 m)	9+1⁄2 in (0.24 m)	4.54 s	1.52 s	2.57 s	4.04 s	6.62 s	38.5 in (0.98 m)	10 ft 0 in (3.05 m)	14 reps
Sources:^[17]^[18]

Bell was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the seventh round, 253rd overall, of the 2023 NFL draft.^[19] He was the last of nine Wolverines drafted in 2023.^[20]

During a Week 3 30–12 victory over the New York Giants, Bell caught his first pass, a 9-yard touchdown reception, from quarterback Brock Purdy. Bell finished the game with two receptions for 24 yards and a touchdown.^[21] In Week 18 in a 21–20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Bell had a career high 5 targets, thanks to the 49ers sitting their best players due to already clinching the #1 seed in the National Football Conference. He only had one catch, a 5-yard touchdown.^[22]^[23] He appeared in all 17 games as rookie. He finished with six receptions for 68 yards and three touchdowns.^[24] On November 29, 2024, Bell was waived by the 49ers and re-signed to the practice squad four days later.^[25]^[26]