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The towels have been thrown in. The post-season hopes have been dashed. Fans are outcrying for changes to come to the Michigan football program. Despite all of these things happening and the game looking bleak for the Wolverines, one player stood out and showed that no matter what the score is or what is going on, this team will not give up.
Wide receiver Ronnie Bell played a huge role in the offense’s performance today in the 38-21 loss to Indiana. Bell finished the game with six catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. It wasn’t the performance that will be discussed for Bell, though it will get mentioned; it was the character he showed when his team was losing.
In the team’s first drive of the third quarter, Michigan quarterback Joe Milton needed to make some plays to make the 24-7 Indiana lead shrink. He needed someone who was a veteran and who he could trust the most to make that happen. It was from Bell.
Milton connected on a 23-yard pass after the team started with a first and 20 after a holding call was against them. After that big chunk of yards and a fresh set of downs, Milton went right back to Bell and got a huge 52-yard gain. Bell screamed out after the catch and what that scream said to me was that Bell was certainly upset with what was going on, but he wasn’t going to quit on his teammates.
Bell would later make another statement as he caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Milton to cut the lead down to 10, making it 31-21 Indiana. Bell went up big and got that touchdown pass while being covered well, showing he wasn’t giving up, and he was giving it his all. Bell learned from last year how to overcome adversity.
Last season against Penn State, Michigan needed a touchdown to try and force overtime against the Nittany Lions. Quarterback Shea Patterson found Bell open in the endzone, and he threw it right to him, only for it to be dropped, and Michigan would lose the game 28-21. No player took the brunt of that loss harder than Bell. Bell was getting harassed on social media, and fans were crossing the line with what they said to him.
Bell didn’t quit, though. Bell didn’t give up.
He finished last season with the most catches on the team with 48 and the most receiving yards with 758, and he scored one touchdown. Bell didn’t quit after that huge drop. Bell didn’t take his ball and went home. Bell continued to work, balled out, and finished the season as the number one wide receiver for the Wolverines. He seems to have continued that mantra into the 2020 season, and it might have been passed onto the other players on the team.
This year, Bell is still the top target. He leads the team with 14 catches and in yards with 269, and the touchdown today was his first on the year. Bell had his biggest game of the season today, and while the results weren’t what the team wanted to see, one thing that Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh can say is that Bell and his teammates aren’t quitting.
This team is trying its heart out to win these games. They are trying everything they can do on both sides of the football to make them victorious. The only issue is their best isn’t enough so far this season. While it stings that the team isn’t up to par, the bright spot is that they know they can do better.
They know they are better than this. They won’t give up no matter what the score is, and they won’t give up no matter what their record is. This team still has fight left in them, they need to turn that fight and energy into a winning team, and no person is better to lead that talk and that transition other than Bell.
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