YSU picks up first ’12 verbal

By Joe Scalzo | July 20, 2011 at 12:10a.m.

Hickory High football coach Bill Brest said he stresses three things in his program: character, academics and athletics.

Matt Bell, he said, displays the best of all three.

Bell (6-foot-3, 275 pounds), a two-year starter on the offensive and defensive lines, became Youngstown State’s first recruit in the 2012 class when he verbally committed to the Penguins on Tuesday.

“Youngstown State is getting a very physical and relentless football player who really gets after it in the weight room and on the field,” Brest said. “Offensively, he plays through the whistle and defensively he has great pursuit to the football.

“Character-wise, he has zero issues. He represents himself, his family and his football team very well.”

Academically, Bell carries a 3.8 grade point average and scored a 1360 on the SAT (equivalent to a 31 on the ACT) with particularly strong scores in math.

“He’s an outstanding student and he really works on his fundamental skills and his conditioning,” said Brest, who credited his offensive line coach Bill Sham and defensive line coach Walt Nogay for aiding Bell’s development. “He’s just a great kid.”

Bell, who said YSU has been recruiting him since last year, chose the Penguins because of the staff and the program’s tradition.

“It’s a great football school,” said Bell, whose college position won’t be decided until he enrolls. “My coaches said a lot of great things about the program and I trust them.”

Bell hails from the same school that produced YSU wide receivers coach Andre Coleman, who led Hickory to the Class AA state title in 1989. Coleman later played for Kansas State and spent five years in the NFL. Bell’s father, Bob, was an assistant coach on the 1989 Hickory team.

When asked to describe himself as a player, Bell used the word “relentless.”

“I’m nice outside the field but on the field, it’s a different story,” he said.

He plans to major in an engineering field — possibly civil engineering — and would like to also compete in track and field, where he is a standout thrower. He placed second in the shot put at last month’s Class AA state meet.

“I’m excited,” he said of heading to YSU. “I talked about it with my parents and my coaches and I feel like it’s the right place for me.”