Five-star safety Von Bell of Rossville, Georgia has decided to play his college football at Ohio State. New Tennessee coach Butch Jones worked hard to flip the Chattanooga-area resident who had always been an Buckeye lean. In the end, Jones couldn’t and that’s a hit for Tennessee. (Ironically, ESPNU asked Derek Dooley about Bell after the young man’s announcement, but Bell’s high school coach has made it clear his star had not gotten a ton of attention from Dooley and his aides.)
Alabama also made a push to land Bell, but the Crimson Tide can afford a disappointment more easily than the Volunteers can.
Meanwhile Urban Meyer is putting together what could be the nation’s #1 class and he’s successfully coming back to the South to help do it.
Like Carl Lawson earlier, Bell handled himself well and surely won many people over with his demeanor.
