California WR Maurice Bell high on Iowa after visit
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa football team rarely recruits in California, but is making an exception with 2017 receiver Maurice Bell.
The Murrieta, Calif., native took an unofficial visit to Iowa City this past weekend and was impressed by what he saw and heard on and off the field.
So much so that the 6-foot, 175-pound Bell now has Iowa among his top five schools.
"Yeah, they’re very high on my recruitment list," Bell said Sunday.
Bell landed on Iowa’s recruiting radar partly because his high school coach is a friend of Iowa running backs coach Chris White.
Bell’s performance on the field also also has attracted attention. He is ranked as a 3-star recruit by both Rivals and Scout. Rivals also ranks Bell at No. 81 nationally at his position in the 2017 class.
"They said I’m a big playmaker and it would be great having a nice running game and have a playmaker at wide recevier," Bell said of the Iowa coaches, who are prohibited under NCAA rules from commenting publicly about a specific recruit before the recruit has signed a national letter of intent.
Bell attended Iowa’s spring game on Saturday and met with Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz and with Iowa receivers coach Bobby Kennedy during his visit. Bell also became acquainted with fellow 2017 recruit Kamron Fields, a dual-threat quarterback from Texas, who also took an unofficial visit to Iowa City this past weekend.
"He is a real cool guy," Bell said of Fields.
Bell, who has at least 10 scholarship offers, said he plans to visit Arizona on May 7. He also reportedly has scholarship offers from Arizona State, Michigan, Boston College, Colorado, Nebraska, Washington State, New Mexico and Nevada-Las Vegas.