UGASports is counting down the days until the Bulldogs’ 2024 season opener. For each day in our countdown, we will reveal our opinion of the best player in Georgia history to wear that particular jersey number.
We select Kendrell Bell as the best Georgia player to wear jersey No. 37.
#37 KENDRELL BELL
Position: Linebacker
Hometown (High School): Augusta, Georgia (Lucy Craft Laney HS)
Height/Weight: 6-2, 240
Lettered: 1999-2000
Stats: 153 tackles (95 solo), 7 sacks, 8 other tackles for loss, 5 caused fumbles, 2 recovered fumbles, 2 pass breakups, 4 interceptions, and 14 quarterback pressures in 21 games/16 starts (all 16 at Mike linebacker) in two seasons.
Career: After a two-year stint at Middle Georgia Junior College, the once-unheralded Kendrell Bell was offered a scholarship from UGA despite the Bulldogs having no immediate need for linebackers. Filling in for an injured Will Witherspoon, Bell first started—and then starred—for Georgia in the second game of the 1999 season, a 24-9 win over South Carolina. Starting at Mike linebacker down the stretch that season, he finished the year leading the team in quarterback pressures (12), caused fumbles (3), and blocked kicks (5), while earning All-SEC honors. Bell's five combined blocked kicks—three punts, two field goals—remain a single-season school record for an individual. As a senior in 2000, he again led the team in caused fumbles (2), recovered fumbles (2), and was second in tackles (92), while earning All-SEC honors for the second consecutive year. Following his final season at Georgia, Bell participated in the Senior Bowl. Selected in the second round by the Pittsburgh Steelers, he was the No. 39 overall pick of the 2001 NFL Draft.
#37 Honorable Mention: HB- Don Soberdash (1957-1959); CB- Doug McFalls (1963-1965); CB- Steve Taylor (1972-1974)
Replacing Will Witherspoon because of an injury, middle linebacker Kendrell Bell makes his first career start at Georgia against South Carolina early in the 1999 season. Bell was all over the place in the Buldogs' 24-9 win, totaling six tackles, including one for loss, intercepting a pass on the game's third play, and blocking a Gamecock punt:
