Michigan State football: 15 greatest running backs in Spartans history
By John Buhler
Le’Veon Bell has had quite the NFL career, first with the Pittsburgh Steelers and now with the New York Jets. But before he was changing the game as one of the greatest dual-threat backs the NFL has ever seen, Bell was a Spartan.
Bell first came to East Lansing in spring 2010 as an early enrollee. He might have only played three years in the green and white, but that was plenty of time for the Spartan faithful to see his gridiron greatness. As a freshman in 2010, Bell rushed for 605 yards and eight touchdowns on 107 carries. Michigan State would be named co-champions of the Big Ten that season.
As a sophomore in 2011, Bell saw his workload increase, as he rushed for 948 yards and 13 touchdowns on 182 carries. The Spartans would play in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis but would fall to Russell Wilson and the Wisconsin Badgers.
Though the Spartans failed to get back to Lucas Oil Stadium in 2012, probably because of quarterback Kirk Cousins now playing in the NFL for the Washington Redskins, this would end up being Bell’s best season of his college football career. Bell rushed for 1,793 yards on 382 carries for 12 touchdowns as the Michigan State bell-cow.
Bell was so dominant of a rusher that he would be named First-Team All-Big Ten and First-Team All-American. He also prevented another talented Spartans tailback in Jeremy Langford from getting touches. In three seasons at Michigan State, Bell had 671 carries for 3,346 yards and 33 touchdowns. Those totals put him sixth, seventh and seventh in the Spartans running back pantheon.
In 2013, Bell would be taken with the No. 48 overall pick by the Steelers in the NFL Draft. Bell made three trips to the Pro Bowl and three All-Pro teams during his first six years in Pittsburgh, including the 2018 campaign where he sat out the entire year by refusing to play under the franchise tag for a second consecutive season. Now in the next part of his career, will Bell be able to take Gang Green to new heights playing for the AFC franchise in the Big Apple?