Scout.com > Football Recruiting Bell Commits to Ohio Story URL: http://recruiting.scout.com/2/681914.html Matt Alkire SuperPrep.com Sep 20, 2007 Salisbury, Conn., prospect Rich Bell has decided to end his recruitment early and give his verbal commitment to Ohio after also looking at many other programs. At this point the commitment is very solid to the Bobcats, however if larger programs come calling then he may end up looking elsewhere. Rich Bell, a 6-foot-2, 271-pound defensive tackle from Salisbury School held scholarship offers from Western Michigan, Akron, Toledo, Tulane and Northeastern, but the 6-foot-2, 271-pound athlete ending up choosing Ohio in the end. We spoke to his father Dick Bell about why the commitment was made recently. “Richard has given a soft verbal commitment to Ohio,” Bell said. “Now just to explain what I mean by soft, Richard wasn’t entirely ready to make his decision as some other large schools are looking at him, so after talking with Head Coach Frank Solich we decided to give him the commitment as Ohio is definitely the school that Richard likes out of all of his offers. The only way he would revisit his recruiting is if a major power came around with an offer and to speak frankly, that doesn’t even mean that he would be leaving Ohio as he really loves the program. So, for all intents and purposes this commitment is actually firm.” “Richard was very happy with his decision as he loved it up at Ohio and felt great about everything and everyone he came in contact with there.” As a junior, Bell made 83 tackles, 15 of which were for a loss, had four sacks and recovered three fumbles. Bell has been officially observed doing 32 reps of 185 pounds and 24 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press. He was also timed at 4.86 in the 40-yard dash, 4.23 in the short shuttle and has a 27-inch vertical. Copyright © Scout.com and SuperPrep.com