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This write up on Byron Bell will make you cry

jtnc

By jtnc,
in Carolina Panthers

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jtnc Newbie

jtnc

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SPARTANBURG Early in Panthers training camp, offensive line coach John Matsko asked Byron Bell to share his story with the team's linemen.

It seemed unusual, having an undrafted rookie address a group that included two Pro Bowlers and a number of veterans.

But when Bell started talking, the room got quiet.

He told teammates how he lost his father to a heart condition when he was 5, leaving his mother, Sandra Bell, to raise four boys while working full-time in law enforcement.

He described the day in 2007 that began with a bowl game victory for the University of New Mexico and should have been capped with a party. Instead, it ended with Bell in a room-trashing rage after receiving a phone call about a fire that destroyed his family's home in Greenville, Texas.

He explained how he played his final college season in honor of his brother, Isaiah, who was 8 when he died in that fire.

And finally, Bell told Matsko and the linemen that his mother and brother are the forces driving him to beat the odds as an undrafted free agent and make the Panthers' 53-man roster. As the oldest of his mother's four sons, the 6-foot-5, 339-pound offensive tackle is his family's protector.

"That's why I play, because of (Isaiah)," Bell said he told his teammates in the meeting. "I said I'm not even in it for the money. I just want to get enough money so I can get my mother a home. That's it."

Tribute to Isaiah

New Mexico opened the 2010 season at Oregon. In the visitors locker room before the game, Bell noticed the equipment manager had stitched the initial "I" next to "Bell" on the back of his jersey.

The tribute to Isaiah stayed on Bell's back his senior season, when he graded out at better than 90 percent and finished with 100 knockdown blocks. An honorable mention All-Mountain West selection, Bell was not invited to the NFL combine.

There were rumblings about his attitude and character. But Locksley told Panthers college scout Khary Darlington, who played at Maryland when Locksley was an assistant there, that Bell been through trying circumstances, but he was not worried about him because he had a strong role model in his mother.

The Panthers were the only team to give Bell a personal workout. Assistant offensive line coach Ray Brown, an NFL lineman for 20 years, said he could feel Bell's power when he held a blocking dummy for him during the 45-minute workout.

"He worked hard and I knew he wanted it," Brown said. "The big thing is his lack of experience. He hasn't played a lot of football. But the kid has an NFL body. You've got to really coach him up to NFL standards."

New Mexico filed an unsuccessful appeal with the NCAA to get Bell another year of eligibility for the year he burned playing six snaps as a freshman under the former staff. Locksley believes Bell would have been a mid-round draft pick in 2012 with another year in college.

Instead, Bell faces the steep road of an undrafted player. Only one undrafted rookie made the Panthers' 53-man roster out of training camp last year - defensive tackle Andre Neblett.

Bell's technique needs work. But the motivation is there.

"He's been through tragedies. That ought to make him play for it. It ought to make him work for it," Brown said. "I always tell him you've got to use that as gas. You've got to make that work for you.

"Sometimes you get a little rattled. It's tough out here. You might start thinking about home or wanting to be at home. But you just bounce back. You're doing it for your mom. You're doing it for your brother."

The Bells honor Isaiah in different ways. Sandra Bell, who at 48 recently bought a new house a few miles from her former home, throws Isaiah a birthday party on April 26 every year. She invites friends and family, who write messages to Isaiah on helium-filled balloons and release them to the heavens.

He would have been 12 this year.

Byron Bell visits Isaiah's gravesite whenever he goes home. If he sticks with the Panthers - in addition to buying his mother a bigger home - he first wants to buy a tombstone to replace the simple, metal marker at Isaiah's grave.

The big lineman is still his brother's protector.

"I just keep pushing through life," Bell said. "Things happen. That's why we're here. We're human. Everybody's had mistakes.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/08/20/2542416/theres-a-lot-on-the-line-for-panthers.html#ixzz1Vcx308sI

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Byron Bell's brothers, Elijah and Isaiah, both then 4, in Greenville, Texas. Isaiah would die in a fire four years later.

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Hoping this young man makes the TEAM!!

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D34Williams Newbie

D34Williams

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wow. it's guys like this that really make you realize that when you're bitching and moaning about life, that it could be a hell of a lot worse. i had no idea about any of that. pulling for him is an understatement. with an attitude and drive like that supported with a constant memory and feelings of that stuff, he can do anything he wants, and will succeed.

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jtnc Newbie

jtnc

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The Colts also gave him a private workout. Just found it on a simple google search. Hope he makes it too but the 2nd string oline has looked like crap so far this preseason and he was part of that line.

He started vs Miami. In place of Otah.

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