Former Park Hill wide receiver Ronnie Bell talks to the media at the NFL Draft Combine before being drafted with the 253rd overall pick to the San Francisco 49ers on April 30.
Five years after wrapping up his prolific athletic career at Park Hill High School, 23-year-old Ronnie Bell had his lifelong dream of being drafted into the NFL come true when the University of Michigan wide receiver was drafted to the San Francisco 49ers.
Bell had an unorthodox road to the league, having no offers to play college football when his senior season at Park Hill concluded, yet he still ended up being drafted with the 253rd overall pick. With the 2023 NFL Draft being held in Kansas City, the 6-0, 191-pound athlete was able to experience the honor in his hometown.
Having accomplished so much since playing his final snap for Park Hill, all of it almost didn’t happen. Despite posting 89 catches for 1,605 yards and 21 touchdowns in his senior campaign, Bell didn’t have the recognition he deserved and was originally going to play basketball at Missouri State University.
2018 Park Hill graduate Ronnie Bell holds up the Big 10 Conference Champion trophy after the University of Michigan defeated Purdue 43-22 last December.
Jim Harbaugh, the head football coach at the University of Michigan, heard about Bell through his son-in-law Jimmy Cain who was a basketball coach at Blue Springs South at the time. Cain told Harbaugh that Bell was the best football player in Kansas City, which was a fair assessment given that he earned the Thomas A. Simone Award – an honor given to Bell for such the occasion.
“I didn’t necessarily choose (Michigan),” Bell said on the podcast ‘Prepare To Be Amaized’ last year. “I had one offer to play football, so it was more so me choosing football than it was choosing Michigan, but I’m definitely grateful and blessed to be here.”
Soon after Harbaugh found out about Bell, the wide receiver earned an offer to the University of Michigan, and he eventually accepted. He played five years there with multiple accolades and impressive stat lines, with his senior year being cut short with an ACL tear in the season opener.
“He came back stronger, faster; a lot of the speeding agility tests were PRs for him,” Harbaugh said about Bell’s return last September. “And I never really wondered about his mindset… Ronnie’s really blocking well, catching the ball, running routes, and doing everything he’s been doing. Leading, his work ethic; he’s been selfless.”
Ronnie Bell started 14 games for the Wolverines last season while leading the team with 62 receptions and 889 yards.
Bell played his final season for the Wolverines this past fall as a graduate student, starting in 14 games while leading the team with 62 receptions and 889 yards. Along with leading Michigan to the College Football Playoffs – a feat that only four schools in the entire nation earns – the fifth-year wide receiver had four total touchdowns to be ranked as a top-25 player in his position in the NFL Draft.
Although he dropped to the seventh round, Bell will be a good addition to an already loaded offense in San Francisco. The 49ers have made the playoffs three of the last four years, including a trip to the NFC Championship each time, and ended with a 13-4 regular season record last season.
“He seemed like one of the more reliable guys – wideouts that we watched in all of college football,” San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said to reporters at the NFL Draft. “And we want guys to be good over time. And I feel like he’s a guy who’s been as good of a football player as there is in college.”
Bell impressed at the NFL Scouting Combine when he had a 4.54 second 40-yard dash with a 1.52-second 10-yard split, a 38.5-inch vertical jump and a 6.98-second 3-cone drill. The 2018 Park Hill graduate has come a long way since walking the halls at the high school in Platte County, and the sky is the limit when he steps on the NFL field.