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A former wide receiver at Michigan himself, Ron Bellamy knows what it takes to play the position.
After a pro career that eventually led him to coaching at the high school level at West Bloomfield, a team that just won the Michigan state championship this past year, Bellamy has returned to his alma mater to oversee the position group he was once a part of. While there’s a lot of talent, it’s admittedly young, and it didn’t quite achieve what was expected in the shortened 2020 campaign.
There are a lot of reasons for that, and Bellamy is hoping that spring ball will make a ton of difference. Not only for the players, but also for him, as he enters the college ranks as a coach for the first time.
“It’s huge!” Bellamy said of spring ball to Jon Jansen on the ‘In the Trenches’ podcast. “That will be everything for me. There’s only so much you can do sitting, reading a playbook, watching cut-ups from last year, the year before and I’ve done that. I’m continually learning every day, but until we get on that football field and you learn what each kid is capable of doing, I’m gonna learn a lot about myself every day. That’s something I think about constantly: because I just went through that with football. I just coached a football game a week and a half ago. So in my mind, it’s like, ‘OK, do we start spring ball now?’ Even though they just shut stuff down?
“I understand the importance of having a spring ball. Not only are you developing kids, but you’re doing professional development with your coaches as well.”
So what does he see out of his position group?
Of course, Bellamy hasn’t had a lot of time on task in that regard, as he was only connected to the position on Jan. 23 — a few short weeks ago. But, for him, he sees a young, talented group that needs elevated leadership.
That’s why the first thing he did was challenge the veteran presence in the locker room to set the standard for the younger players. If that’s to happen, then not only will it make this Michigan team better, but it will make future iterations better for it, as well.
“One of the first things I did when I got all the receivers’ names and numbers is I sent a group text,” Bellamy said. “Before I pressed send on that group text, I was gonna introduce myself, I reached out and I called Ronnie Bell. I said, ‘Ronnie, listen, you’re the alpha of this group. You’re the old guy, you’re the most experienced guy. And you have that moxie.’ When you turn that film on on Saturdays, you watch Michigan football games, you see that he is the guy. And me, sitting in that same room that these guys are sitting in and understanding what the expectations are for that position, and I told him, ‘The torch is passed to you.’ This is part of the culture of Michigan football — about leadership, about dedication, about making sure you don’t have to be that ‘rah rah’ guy, but you could lead by example, doing things the right way. Because these young guys are watching your every move and that’s what sets success up. When older guys are doing things the right way, that the young guys could emulate, so that when the older guys leave the expectations don’t change in the room. And that’s something that I challenged him right away. And he’s accepted the challenge, and I’m excited to get working with him.
“It’s an extremely talented room. A ton of youth. I thought, for being a group that’s so young, I thought they played well, for the most part, considering that they did not have a spring football season, considering COVID and different things of that nature. But I’m excited because in that position room, you have different dudes from Cali, Hawaii, Michigan, Connecticut, Kansas. Guys are from all over the country. I’m so excited to mesh with these guys and continue to build a brotherhood that Coach Gattis built with them. Coach Gatt — he’ll be working with us as well. I’m excited to get going with these guys because they’re so ready. Last year was last year and guys understand that we underachieved. They are ready to erase what happened last year and play at a high level this year. It’s my job to make sure that I bring the energy, I’m challenging them to bring the game up to another level, and the expectation is I do the same thing every day. I think it’s gonna be a great partnership, a great relationship with myself and our receiving corps.”
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