Western Carolina coach knows Catamounts are outsized against Arkansas, but not outskilled

Kerwin Bell knows what it takes to win the SEC. And he knows it’s a big task for his Catamounts team.

Kerwin Bell was the best quarterback in the SEC when he played. He turned himself into an NFL quarterback, too. He knows the proverbial what it takes.

When the Western Carolina coach looks at his roster heading into Saturday’s season-opener against Arkansas in Little Rock, he doesn’t see a Catamounts team that is out-talented or outskilled.

He does, however, see a team that may be outsized.

“If you’ve got a guy that’s bigger than you, you’ve got to now use your heart and your grit and all those things you’ve got to have to make up that size difference,” Bell said.

Bell was quarterback at Florida in the early and mid-1980s. He was the SEC Player of the Year in 1984 and an All-American that season and the next. And even though Arkansas wasn’t in the SEC when Bell was a Gators player, he knows the task of playing an SEC game and he’s spent the last couple weeks getting his team ready for it.

We’ve got guys who are maybe 5-7. But they’ve got the skill level to compete,” Bell said. “It’s a big task. Listen, I’ve talked to our team already about just the size difference. Why are those guys at Arkansas and you’re here at the FCS level? I don’t think it’s the skill level. We’re flat out going to recruit FBS skill level.

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