For a UCLA team with 20 returning starters and all eyes on its experienced players, it was a junior backup who stole the show at Stanford on Saturday.
Running back Kahlil Bell rushed for a career-high 195 yards on 19 carries, pounding the Cardinal defense with a punishing running attack.
His highlight reel of a game included runs of 11, 14, 22, 31 and 59 yards, sparking the Bruin offense with explosive bursts through the Cardinal front seven.
The Marin native sat out almost half of last season due to injury and suspension but was expected to receive plenty of carries this year as part of a two-man rotation with senior Chris Markey. Although Markey started the game, Bell quickly showed his potential as a bruising ball-carrier on the Bruins’ final possession of the first quarter.
Backed up on their own 21-yard line, the Bruins gave the ball to Bell, who took the handoff and kept his feet after being tripped up at the line of scrimmage. He barreled between two defenders, knocking them to the ground, and steadied himself for an impressive 9-yard gain. However, that was just a taste of what was what to come.
On the next play, Bell burst up the middle, broke one tackle, then cut outside, flashing his speed as he simply ran by Cardinal safety Austin Yancy for a 59-yard first down.
He put up 107 yards on nine carries in the first half, but that was not at all it for the Kahlil Bell Show.
On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Bell came hard up the middle, outran a Cardinal linebacker and took it down to the Stanford 32-yard line for a 31-yard gain.
However, his most impressive run came on UCLA’s next possession, backed up on their own 3-yard line.
Forced with a key third-and-inches, the Bruins gave Bell the ball for his third straight carry with a designed run over right tackle. However, Ekom Udofia ““ the 310-pound Cardinal defensive tackle – broke through the Bruin line and met Bell in the backfield. It looked to be a sure loss of yards, but the running back pulled a page out of Maurice Jones-Drew’s book and simply bounced off of him. He was forced outside and broke four more tackles downfield before 550 pounds of Stanford defensive line brought him down after 22 yards.
After the game, coach Karl Dorrell had nothing but positive things to say about Bell’s performance.
“Kahlil had a tremendous game,” Dorrell said. “He was one of our captains today, just because he’s one of the guys on our team that we’ve recognized has worked really hard to get where he is today. He’s just physically in much better shape.”
Bell brushed off the praise like he brushed off Stanford’s defense.
“I did a lot of different things (in my training this summer),” Bell said. “People say I have changed as a football player, but I’ve done a lot of work with our strength and conditioning coaches, so all the credit goes to them. I just did what they told me to do.”