Bell gets rung: Hard knock doesn’t keep Steelers’ rookie down long

LATROBE: Kendrell Bell was down. He was dazed. And despite being a 6-foot-1, 246-pound ball of muscle, he needed help walking off the field.

This wasn't the way Bell, playing in front of his friends and family Friday at the Georgia Dome, had hoped to begin his professional career.

On the opening kickoff of the Steelers' 17-16 preseason victory over the Falcons, Bell sprinted down the field and flew into the Falcons' wedge of players blocking for Vinny Sutherland.

Sutherland returned the kick to the 26-yard line, with Ainsley Battles getting credit for the stop. Bell had no idea. He was knocked silly by the collision.

'I went in there blind, full of vinegar and got woke up,' he said. 'I think in my mind, I really needed to get (the first hit) out.

'It kind of woke me up.'

Bell's performance was certainly an eye-opener. The Augusta, Ga., native, who returned in the second quarter, officially finished with six tackles and two sacks from his inside linebacker spot, and showed that he is the cream of the crop of the Steelers' 2001 draft.

'You never know when you put a kid in a game for the first time in pro football,' linebackers coach Mike Archer said. 'We knew he was going to want to play there being it's his home state and playing in the Georgia Dome. He did a lot of good things.

'He played the game the way he practices. He goes full speed, and he's a very active young man.'

Archer credited Bell with being involved in 12 tackles.

For a while, it seemed Bell was everywhere.

But it wasn't the number of tackles or sacks that stands as most impressive about him. It was the way he registered those statistics, with the ferocity, speed and power he showcased that convinced the Steelers to use this year's second-round pick on him.

'I think I went out there and just played, did what I did in college,' Bell said. 'Just worked hard. I don't think the coaches are surprised with anything I've done. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have drafted me if I didn't work hard.'

Bell, though, who is behind veteran Mike Jones at the right inside linebacker spot, said he still is not completely comfortable with the game. It's a difficult adjustment moving from the college ranks to the pros, where the game is faster and mistakes are magnified. And an adjustment from the south, where he was a star at the University of Georgia, to the North, where he was just another face out of more than 80 at training camp.

But not anymore. He's a marked man on the field. And if he continues to play the way he did Friday, it will be difficult keeping him off it, whether he's a starter or reserve.

'I know I have a lot of room for improvement,' he said. 'Just coming out here in training camp, I'm still learning, picking up things every day, getting a lot of support from the rest of the defense and coaches.

'I'm pretty sure there's a lot more I have to learn and a lot of things I have to pick up mentally and grasp. I'm still learning, and the process is still going on. ... When I get there and the season's over with, then I can grade myself.'

So far, he's received high marks, from his performance at off-season minicamps to his during Friday's game.

Even if it had an ominous beginning.

'When the trainers were taking him off the field, I was talking to Earl, calling in the defense to start the game,' Archer said. 'I said, 'Are you all right?' and he looked at me, and his eyes were going in about nine different directions.

'So he sat out the first quarter, then we put him in there. Once he went in there, he didn't miss a beat.'