Go Big Read: Nebraska football looks for first win yet again by Oliver VanDervoort Greg Bell explained why he left the Nebraska football team and it reads as someone who might have made a hasty decision about his future. There was a short period of time yesterday when there was a chance the talk of Greg Bell leaving the Nebraska football team was just rumors. Then late Friday night it was officially confirmed complete with a short interview with ESPN. In that interview, Bell confirmed he was leaving and seemed to confirm he was leaving the Huskers because he lost the starting job. In particular, he said he, “earned the starting job and feel I have continued to work the same way but feel I am not being used to my fullest potential.” These comments jibe with what running backs coach Ryan Held said right after Devine Ozigbo had seized the starting running back spot for the Cornhuskers. Held said Bell had been feeling a bit sorry for himself. Certainly, Bell hadn’t been reaching his potential after starting the season off looking like one of the best backs in the country. Against Colorado, he rushed for 104 yards on just 14 carries. He didn’t get close to 100 yards in a game after that. Against Michigan and Purdue, his workload was reduced to almost nothing as Ozigbo got the bulk of the carries. Greg Bell is certainly going to have his pick of places to go after leaving Lincoln. He can use this season as his redshirt year and still be a junior in 2019. After reaching JUCO All-American status in 2017, he picked the Nebraska football team over Tennessee, Arizona State, Arizona and Louisville among others.<doc-sep>Nebraska running back Greg Bell is leaving the program after a four-game stint in Lincoln. After a source told the Journal Star on Friday afternoon that the junior college running back was not expected to make the team trip to Wisconsin, a school spokesman confirmed Friday night that Bell had been released from his scholarship. Originally the school wanted to wait until after Saturday's game against the Badgers to address Bell's status, but the former Arizona Western running back confirmed his departure to ESPN late Friday, saying he thought he had earned the starting job and wasn't being used to his "fullest potential." Bell started Nebraska's first three games but saw senior Devine Ozigbo get the starting nod and most of the game repetitions last weekend against Purdue. Running backs coach Ryan Held said that Bell took the news hard at first, but added this week that both the junior and freshman Maurice Washington responded well this week in practice and performed well enough to see playing time Saturday night against the No. 16 Badgers. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}<doc-sep>Most think Greg Bell left the Nebraska football team because he wasn’t starting, but was he really just reading the tea leaves? The Nebraska football team appears to be down another offensive player. Just days after Tyjon Lindsey announced his departure, Greg Bell appears to be heading out of town as well. The interesting thing about this particular transfer is that it might have more in common with Tristan Gebbia than it does Lindsey. While most people believe Bell is leaving because he lost the starting job to Devine Ozigbo, it might be more about the JUCO transferring looking ahead to future seasons and realizing the time to get going is now. Yes, Devine Ozigbo is gone after this season. The problem Bell may be having, when it comes to seeing a clear path to starting next year, is Dedrick Mills. Mills was a bit of a surprise commitment for the Cornhuskers just as the season was kicking off. At the time, it appeared he might be basically replacing Tre Bryant on next year’s roster. Now it looks more likely he’s replacing Bell. For his part, Mills has kept whatever heat was on for the starting running back job on high. Playing for Garden City Community College, the former Georgia Tech star has 815 yards rushing in five games. He’s also already got nine rushing touchdowns. Yes, it helps that Mills is playing for a team that loves to run the ball. Take Garden City’s most recent game. The Husker commit had 27 carries for 240 yards and three touchdowns. The man he splits carries with, Charles West had 18 carries for 237 yards and three touchdowns. Garden City threw the ball nine times. In the first game of the year, they threw it once. Mills numbers are obviously padded a bit but when you consider he’s also shown he can do this kind of thing in the ACC, it makes sense that Greg Bell might be seeing the writing on the wall. Many people think Gebbia left in a fit of pique because didn’t get the starting job. The more likely rationale is that he knew this season was going to be the best chance for him to get the starting job, and hold onto it moving forward. The Cornhuskers are clearly recruiting more mobile QBs moving forward. If Gebbia was going to stake his claim, it was going to be in 2018. Bell, who would be a senior next season if he had played in a fifth game this year, might have looked at the impending arrival of Mills and decided losing the job to Ozigbo was the death blow. Unfortunately, much the quarterback position, the running back spot for the Nebraska football team is thin, though it’s not nearly as thin as it is under center.<doc-sep>Sean Callahan of HuskerOnline reports that Nebraska running back Greg Bell is planning to leave the football program. The Lincoln Journal-Star and Omaha World-Herald are both reporting that Bell will not travel with the Huskers to Madison, but any official word on Bell’s status won’t come until after the game. Bell has rushed for 173 yards this season and started the first three games of the season, but was replaced by Devine Ozigbo last week. Ozigbo claimed the starting I-Back job with a 170 yard performance against Purdue. Bell arrived in Lincoln this past spring from Arizona Western with three years to play two more seasons. While he can claim a redshirt year for this season, he’ll still need to sit out one season if he transfers to another division 1-A school. That would leave him with one season of eligibility to play in the 2020 season, should he depart. He could redshirt this year, and play for Nebraska in 2019 and 2020. [Update - 8:53 PM] And Greg Bell is gone....<doc-sep>
Another top offensive prospect is leaving the Nebraska football team. Greg Bell, the No. 2-rated junior college running back in the 2018 class, has received his scholarship release from the Cornhuskers after playing in the first four games of this season. Nebraska confirmed on Friday its release of Bell. He did not travel to Wisconsin with the Huskers, who are 0-4 under first-year coach Scott Frost. Nebraska faces the 16th-ranked Badgers on Saturday night, having lost a school-record eight consecutive games dating to last October. Bell's transfer follows the departure earlier this week of sophomore wide receiver Tyjon Lindsey, the No. 78 prospect nationally in the Class of 2017 out of Las Vegas Bishop Gorman. Feeling he could be utilized better, Nebraska running back Greg Bell has received his release from the Cornhuskers and will look to transfer. AP Photo/Nati Harnik Bell started the first three games of the season for Nebraska and rushed for 104 yards in a 33-28 loss to Colorado on Sept. 8. His production dropped to 64 yards a week later against Troy, followed by outputs 3 and 2 yards on eight total carries against Michigan and Purdue. Bell told ESPN on Friday that he felt he "earned the starting job and feel I have continued to work the same way but feel I am not being used to my fullest potential." He thanked Frost, the Nebraska support staff and fans for helping with his transition from junior college. Senior Devine Ozigbo started against the Boilermakers and rushed for a career-best 170 yards in the 42-28 Nebraska loss last week. Bell was a first-team juco All-American in each of his two seasons at Arizona Western Community College, rushing for 2,404 yards. His other scholarship offers included Boise State, Arizona State, Arizona and Louisville. ESPN's Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report.