Jered Bell has probably been asked the ‘legacy’ question a lot during his time at Colorado. Most of his recruiting class graduated two years ago, last year looked to be his senior year before he suffered his second torn ACL in fall camp, but now it’s for sure, these will be Jered Bell’s last five games in a Buffaloes uniform, this is his senior class.
Alas, he has to talk about legacy at least one more time.
“This senior class has showed that we can fight through adversity and still come together and still prove that we have fight left in us,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot and we’re still pushing, that’s our biggest legacy in this class as a whole, we’re still pushing through it, we’re not giving up.”
They haven’t given up in a game and they haven’t given up on their goal, the goal of leaving a legacy that would not soon be forgotten.
“Get to a bowl game, man, and that would really cap it off for us,” he explained. “That would be the greatest feeling ever for this senior class and for the program.”
On paper, it’s not likely but it’s also not impossible, the Buffs face five teams that all rank in the top half of the conference right now to finish off their season, they’d need to win against three of them. Despite that, the goal being in sight helps power the Buffaloes.
“First of all, they want to win every one of [their last five],” said head coach Mike MacIntyre. “They’ve seen how the program has improved since they got here, of course, they’d like to have won more games, but they want to win more games here at the end and keep it going. They’ve left a good legacy of work ethic, of character and done a lot of things like that have been very special. They’ve been good leaders and taken some of the young guys under their wings that people don’t see… I’ve been pleased with what they’ve done and they’re not finished yet.”
Last week, Bell got a chance to help the Buffs to that bowl goal while also achieving another goal, snapping the 14-game Pac-12 losing streak. The sixth-year senior was inserted into the starting free safety spot after Ryan Moeller was struck by a car while riding his moped, leaving him with a concussion.
“It was crazy hearing about that, I reached out, texted him, called him and everything,” Bell told. “I’m glad to see he’s doing much better now, he’s moving around he’s feeling good, he’s back to his old self, joking around with us and everything, so he’ll be okay.
“Ryan’s injury was an unfortunate situation, I wasn’t thriving off of, ‘oh he was in an accident, here’s my chance,’ nothing like that,” he added. “But it was a great feeling to get out on the field more, that’s what I’ve been waiting for all year, just to get an opportunity and a chance. My knee felt good and coach had the confidence in me to put me on the field so I just tried to take advantage of it.”
Take advantage he did, the free safety led the team in tackles (9) and held down the back end of a Buffs defense that only surrendered 13 points in a 17-13 victory.
Bell also made it clear that the job was not handed to him.
“It wasn’t right off the bat, but it was an opportunity for me and [Afolabi Laguda] to compete for the starting job,” he explained. “That’s one thing I was really appreciative for, we went in practice and competed for the job.”
This week Jered is expected to start again as he heads back to his home state of California. He and his teammates will face a much more prolific UCLA passing attack, led by freshman phenom Josh Rosen.
“Coach has a good scheme for us dialed up for him, it’s important for us to get pressure on the quarterback like it is every week and really for us to stop the run because every team is going to come out and try to run on us,” said bell.” Pretty much be assignment sound in the back half, we cant give up explosive plays, that’ll be the key.”
Explosive plays have been the Buffs Achilles heel for years, limit those and create some turnovers and they just may have a chance to get one step closer to the legacy they desire.
