There’s No ‘Replacing’ Michigan Wolverines Football's Ronnie Bell
Ronnie Bell started out as a two-star receiver but quickly proved better than that, playing as a freshman and showing off elite athleticism. He had his ups and downs the last few years but seemed primed to become one of the Big Ten’s top receivers before going down with a right knee injury in the second quarter of Saturday’s win over Western Michigan.
To that point, Bell looked the part of a potential game changer. He caught a long touchdown pass, had another one-hander called back on a questionable pass interference penalty and returned a punt 31 yards before going down with the injury, setting up a touchdown.
There are several candidates to fill in for him, but finding the same production is going to be tricky.
“It’s going to be very difficult to replace Ronnie Bell; really tough,” head coach Jim Harbaugh admitted. “He’s seasoned, experienced, a tremendous blocker, so competitive. He’s such a gamer, as some guys are.
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“He just wants it really bad. Those are the good players … the good players usually do. They’re the ones that want it the most, and now it will be somebody’s task to try to fill those shoes. It may be one guy; maybe it takes two types of players to fill those shoes.”
Or maybe nobody does. Unlike 1991, for example, when Derrick Alexander went down, there’s no Desmond Howard waiting in the wings. There’s a solid group of receivers with different skills — Daylen Baldwin and Cornelius Johnson are bigger, but not blazers, while Roman Wilson and A.J. Henning are fast but small, with Mike Sainristil the outstanding blocker — but nobody with Bell’s all-around skillset.
It wouldn’t surprise to see more of true freshman Andrel Anthony and some deep shots to him given how many big plays he hit in camp, but he’ll have to prove himself to get the chance.
On punt return, Caden Kolesar filled in after Bell went down and didn’t field a punt. He may or may not get the opportunity again this week, Harbaugh said.
“Possibly. He’s also our best rusher on punts; he’s also our best hold-up guy,” he said. “Ultimately, A.J. Henning when he gets — if he can get — really comfortable back there catching the ball, that would be an ideal position for him, as well as receiver.
“Right now, Caden’s the most sure-handed guy, next best from Ronnie. The problem is, if he returns the punts, he’s not rushing and blocking and holding up, and there are so many other places he can play on punt return. We’ll figure that out as we go.”
It would be great to have an explosive player back there, of course, but catching the ball is priority one. Sainristil’s dropped punt was a huge play in a home loss to Penn State last year, and putting Henning back there before he’s ready could be a risk.
As they’ve said for 50-plus years at Michigan, ‘the expectation is for the position.’ The next man will have to step up. As of now, though, it doesn’t appear there’s another with Bell’s ability, meaning several are going to have to up their games to help compensate for his loss.
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