LeShaun Bell enjoys gameday atmosphere on ASU visit
A sold-out crowd Saturday afternoon at Sun Devil Stadium created the best environment for any ASU home game to date this year, and that certainly didn’t go unnoticed by Calabasas, Calif. defensive lineman LeShaun Bell who visited Tempe this past weekend.
“I loved the field,” Bell said. “The crowd was big and showed a lot of support to the football team. The weight room and the strength coach were amazing and I liked the academics there too. Stephon Wright was my host and said that the school is everything he thought it would be when he was getting recruited. He said that if I didn’t come there then I’m not doing it right. He said that he had offers from schools like Alabama and Oklahoma and still came here.
“Stephon told me that the coaches said that they will play their freshmen early and they did that. I’m going to be 17 when I will start my freshman year in college, and I still know that if I do well in practice I will play because the coaches will play the best of the best. Stephon said that he loved the respect the players and coaches have with each other.”
ASU’s style of coaching was another aspect that was significant in Bell’s experience during his trip.
“I really liked the environment and the vibe that the coaches gave off," Bell stated. "They were coaching you to do the right thing and really teaching you, and not just yelling at you to get off the field. That type of (coaching) environment felt like home back in Calabasas. What blew me away was how young this team was and how bright the future is there.
“I liked how hard the defense played and how they didn’t give up until the game was over. They showed that they were able to handle adversity and make the necessary adjustments to try and come back.”
Bell said that the coaches envisioned him in a hybrid defensive end/linebacker role which is very similar to that of ASU sophomore Tyler Johnson.
“I spent a lot of time with AP (Antonio Pierce) who coaches the linebackers,” Bell remarked, “but also with Jamar Cain who coaches the defensive line. I like how there are so many coaches on this staff have connections to the NFL because that’s where I want to play one day. The best way to do that is to be around coaches who have been on that path so they can help me get there. They know a lot of people in the NFL that can help me along the way.
“Coach AP told me that he likes my speed and my twitchiness, and being an aggressive pass rusher. I know I need to work on my upper body strength more. It hasn’t really hindered me so far in high school, but going up against some of the top players in the nation when I get to college it will be tougher if I can’t improve on that.”
Bell commented that the fact that some of his high school coaches knew the ASU coaches very well, made him very comfortable on the visit as they saw the Sun Devil staff being the same energy as the Calabasas coaches, but also projecting the same attitude.
“I know that sometimes you got to coach some players differently than others,” Bell remarked. “But that doesn’t mean that you have to cuss at them and that’s something Herm Edwards told us and I liked that. He said that if you want a player to learn from you, you cannot cuss at them. That won’t make for a good team atmosphere.”
The Calabasas lineman said that Oregon State and Washington State are two schools he could see himself visiting before he made a decision, and that Fresno State was a possibility too.
“I’m planning to visit other schools after the season,” Bell explained. “I’m not sure yet if I will graduate in December or next year. I want to make my decision after I visit all the schools and if it doesn’t happen by next month then I will sign in February.
“I want to choose a school that feels like home. I’m going to look at who the coaching staff at that school is and if they can help me be not only a better player but a better man. I don’t want to be too close to home but also not be too far so it will be easy for my parents to come out and see me. The ASU coaches said that they always welcome the parents to come down there as much as they want to watch practice.”
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