Ringing the Bell

Ron Prince's children must be happy campers.

Kansas State landed commitment No. 10 on Thursday afternoon when another in-state star selected the Wildcats. The newest Wildcat said Prince welcomed the news by telling his children that they're going to get a special surprise this evening because of the decision.

"I called Raheem Morris a little bit earlier and told him that I was ready to be a Wildcat," Olathe (Kan.) East running back Demetrius Bell said. "He then put coach Prince on the phone. They were both really excited. Coach Prince said he was so excited that he's going to go buy his kids some nice gifts after this."

Bell had picked up a K-State offer more than a month ago and spent time with the Wildcat coaches at a recent spring football practice. It was then he knew that Manhattan was the right fit for him.

"I was just thinking about it, and I wanted to be a Wildcat for a while now," Bell said. "I didn't want to wait too long and miss out on my opportunity. I liked coach Prince, and I liked what he was selling. I'm pretty pumped up about it, and so were the coaches."

Bell, a 5-foot-9, 165-pound all-purpose back, rushed for 1,821 yards and 23 touchdowns as a junior. He earned first-team all-Sunflower League, all-county, all-metro and honorable mention all-state honors in 2005. He's also one of the fastest players in the Sunflower State with a 100-meter best time of 10.5 seconds this spring.

Bell said when he was in Manhattan he spent a lot of time with Prince, who said he reminded him a lot of Alvin Pearman. The 5-9, 200-pound Pearman is the second all-time leading rusher in UVA history.

"Coach Prince said I reminded them of him when he was at Virginia," Bell said. "I've got similar speed, times and size as he does. He showed me a lot of tapes of him, and I liked how they used him. He said he will use me in a lot of the same ways, and it was neat to get a visual idea of how I will be used."

Bell was also recruited by Colorado State, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin and Ball State. His coach Jeff Meyers said K-State is getting a real steal.

"I think he could be deadly in situations when you throw him the football out of the backfield or used on special teams," Meyers said. "If you put him in the right situation, he's going to excel in it. He is the fastest kid in Kansas, and one of the fastest I've ever been around."