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Sun Spots: Jeremy Bell

By Ryan Watters (@ryan2tswatters), 03/12/15, 2:00PM PDT

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This Bell will be ringing in Edmonton in 2015

Jeremy Bell played for the Sun from 2005-2009 returning kicks and playing a solid defensive back position.

Following his time with the Sun, Bell played for the University of Alberta Golden Bears where again he excelled.

While attending the University of Alberta Bell began taking steps to become a strength and conditioning coach and now he’s back in junior football as a member of the Edmonton Wildcats coaching staff.  Bell is not only the Wildcats’ strength and conditioning coach but also the defensive backs coach for the 2015 season.

Wildcats head coach Darcy Park says “one of the biggest off-season additions is the hiring of Jeremy Bell as the team’s strength and conditioning coach.”

Does Bell think playing with the Sun helped him land the position with the Wildcats?

“Playing with the Sun and just football in general taught me many things such as work ethic, team work how to work with different personalities. But I would have to say the single greatest thing playing for the Sun taught me excellence, excellence in life, in school, in relationships in every aspect of life. Do not settle for mediocre or just good enough, prepare like a champion, work like a champion and good things will come out of it.”

Bell says he will not only help the Wildcats with their strength, but help them prevent injury as well;

“Our strength and conditioning program it is very comprehensive, no stone has been left unturned in regards to preparing our players to maximize their athletic potential. Strength and conditioning is my absolute passion and I have spent countless hours building a program that I feel will give my athletes a competitive edge over any program in the country. My philosophy as a strength coach is centered around building strong athletes of course but our number one focus is injury prevention, a player is no good to his coaches and teammates if he isn’t on the field to express his athletic ability so while being able to deadlift 500 pounds may look good on paper, if you are hurt all the time and not on the field you are no good to your team, so again my philosophy is to build athletes that are resistant to injury as well as strong and explosive.”

Over the course of four seasons with the Sun, Bell became very familiar with the franchise and now is looking for similarities with the Wildcats;

“I would say the Cats organization has some similarities in regards to their championship pedigree but I don’t think the mystique is quite the same as you have with the Okanagan Sun. The Sun is a focal point in the community and it’s a special privilege to play for the organization. Now I’m not saying it isn’t a privilege to play for the Cats but its prestige is a little different due to the sport climate in a large market such as Edmonton. In Edmonton you have a number of professional sports franchises to compete with as well as another junior team the Edmonton Huskies and of course the University of Alberta Golden Bears whom I played defensive back for and was also the assistant defensive backs coach in 2012.”

What about teammates, does Bell see and similarities between his teammates with the Sun and the players he’s met on the Wildcats roster?

“As for right now I haven’t really spent enough time around the guys to really make that judgment. There is one player by the name of Cockburn who is an offensive lineman and he kind of reminds me of Travis Miller, super out spoken kind of gets a hard time from the guys but they all love him.”

One of the most difficult aspects for a player becoming a coach for the first time, is letting go of his playing days.  Wanting to jump into the play or lead by example on the field can be hard to get over. Bell has been able to transition nicely, but if age wasn’t a factor could he suit up for the Wildcats if they needed him in the secondary?

“I could most definitely suit up right now, I’m actually a much more prepared athlete now than I was during my days with the sun. My pursuit of strength and conditioning has allowed me to really maximize my own abilities physically, something I wish I could have done more of while playing with the Sun. I recently got a hat trick of interceptions in my last touch league game! So I think it’s safe to say Coach Bell still has it!”

So with the Canadian Bowl held in the PFC champion in 2015, is Bell hoping for a Sun vs. Wildcat national championship?

“As far as a Wildcats vs Sun Canadian Bowl it’s an intriguing thought but not something that is even on my radar at this point. We have a tremendous amount of work to do to prepare ourselves for the season so at this point I won’t be making any kind of predictions, we will let our work and preparation speak for itself and let the chips fall where they may.”

The Sun and Wildcats have only met each other once.  In 1983 the Wildcats snuck past the Sun 29-28 to win the Inter-Conference championship, before beating Ottawa in the Armadale Cup (now the Canadian Bowl) 30-11.

The Sun will open their 34th Spring Camp on May 29th.