lethal
weapon:
dual
threat
saks qb
laderrick
bell keeps
the line
moving
By Al Muskewitz
was late in the second
quarter of a key October
area game at Oneonta and
the Saks offense was desperately
trying to score some points before
halftime.
it
The Wildcats had their kicker ready for a
sure field goal that would have given them
some momentum going into the break,
but they would prefer the touchdown.
Time was running out and the pocket was
collapsing.
Quarterback LaDerrick Bell was doing his
best to keep the play alive, keeping one eye
on the dwindling seconds and the other
on the would-be tacklers he was hoping to
avoid, all the time creating space with his
running ability. All of a sudden he stopped,
66 | 2017 Pigskin Roundup the Magazine
fired across his body to the far front corner
of the end zone and found receiver Rodolfo
Torres to give his team its much-desired
points.
The Wildcats went on to win the game and
clinch another spot in the playoffs with two
weeks to spare.
Bell’s reputation as a dual-threat quarter-
back wasn’t born on that play, but it sure
was solidified.
“In hindsight it probably wasn’t the best
decision because you’d like to get a sure
three right there, but that just demonstrated
his ability to make a play when you needed
to,” Saks coach Jonathan Miller said. “Right
after that play I explained to him it proba-
bly wasn’t a great idea. Great play, but if it’s
not open get it out of bounds. But he ended
up making a play. You’ve got to teach them
the right thing to do, but some times you’ve
just got to let them go make a play.”
Bell is but the latest – and maybe the last –
in a line of dual-threat quarterbacks under
Miller that have carried the Wildcats to
their greatest run of success since the days
of Jack Stewart. And there are many – in
and out of house – that believe the smooth
6-foot-2, 175-pound Bell has the potential
to be the best of the lot, even projecting
past the one who started it all -- Trey Smith,
now at Central Arkansas.
He’s got a strong arm, a quick release, agile
enough to find an opening and fast enough
in the open field not to be caught.
“He would be exactly what I want in a quar-
terback,” Miller said.