Michigan Football: Will Ronnie Bell be Wolverines top receiver again?

Will Ronnie Bell be the leading receiver for Michigan football again in 2020?

The 2019 season put Ronnie Bell on the map for Michigan football fans. After only having eight catches as a freshman, Bell caught 48 passes as a sophomore. He was the leading receiver on a team that included Nico Collins Donovan, Peoples-Jones, Giles  Jackson, and Tarik Black. It was impressive.

Under first year offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, and Michigan football’s “speed in space” offense, Bell flourished.

When Ronnie catches the ball he has the innate ability to gain yards after the catch. He is slippery and can usually make the first man miss turning a 15-yard play in to a 25 or 30 yard chunk.

Bell was able to line up as an outside receiver or in the slot, doing most of his work in the slot. He showed a willingness to make catches over the middle of the field, in a lot of traffic. His basketball background has also given him great leaping ability.

Check out his 2019 highlight film:

2020 Predictions for Bell

Fast forward to 2020 and Michigan football’s wide receiver room looks different. DPJ moved on to the NFL and Tarik Black transferred to Texas. Ronnie Bell and Nico Collins are the leaders in the room that is full of young, unproven talent.

Bell is going to show up on every defensive coordinators scouting report this season after his breakout sophomore campaign. He will still be tough to contain because the Wolverines offense has a lot of threats.

It will be interesting to see where Josh Gattis lines Bell up. Is he going to continue to get most of his snaps in the slot, or will he see more reps on the outside, as a junior? Ronnie has shown that he is very effective in the slot.

In year two of Gattis, he will continue to put his best play-makers in a position to create a big play. Ronnie Bell will get a lions share of the targets that went to other players last season. That means good things for the Wolverines offense.

Bell will be one of the top options for either McCaffery or Milton and getting him the ball will make the QB look very good.

With all that being said, I believe that Bell will put up big numbers in 2020. He’s the perfect receiver for Gattis’ offense and a big play waiting to happen.

My prediction is that Bell gets 60 catches for over 900 yards with 5-7 touchdowns cementing his status as one of the best WR’s in the Big Ten.