Le’Veon Bell and Mark Dantonio Talk About Bell Being Selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers

Le’Veon Bell and Mark Dantonio Talk About LeVeon Bell Being Selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers Q: …and you talked about it was only a dream. You

Le’Veon Bell and Mark Dantonio Talk About LeVeon Bell Being Selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers

Q: …and you talked about it was only a dream. You couldn’t imagine what your family’s reaction would be if the Steelers picked you. So what was their reaction?

A: Man, a whole bunch of screaming and yelling. Everybody was just so ecstatic. It was crazy that I ended up getting drafted to the Steelers because they grew up Steeler fans. My grandpa, my mom are up there crying, had me in tears too. It’s the happiest day of my life. I’m glad that I achieved my goal and I’m gonna be a Steeler. I just wanna be the best player I can possibly be. I don’t wanna say I’ll be like Jerome Bettis or I’ll be like some other running back, but I’m gonna go there and I’m gonna be Le’Veon Bell. I’m gonna give them the best that I can possibly give them. They drafted me, they love the way I run the ball, love the way I catch it on the backfield, how I make plays. I’m gonna go ahead and bring that to them.

Q: I imagine as a kid you probably watched a lot of Jerome Bettis, right? Is it exciting or cool to have a guy like that tweeting you on a night like this?

A: He tweeted me? I didn’t see that. I haven’t even been on Twitter yet. The fact that he sent me a tweet, that’s crazy. Jerome, Bettis, the whole thing, Hall of Famer. I’m just honored. That’s an honor that he tweeted me and congratulated me. I’m gonna make sure I go look at it and tweet him back. I’m really excited.

Q: Did the Steelers tell you when they want you out there, when you’re headed out that way?

A: I leave tomorrow (Saturday) morning. I’ll go down there and meet everybody and then I come back tomorrow night. I’m gonna go there and come back. I’ll go tomorrow though.

Dantonio: Le’Veon, congratulations. We’re very, very happy for you. A long way from Groveport, Ohio.

A: Yes sir.

Dantonio: Yeah, we just listened to the end of it. I’m thinking more like Franco Harris. Which when I grew up, I was a Steelers fan too and they got a statue sort of, of Franco Harris when you walk in the airport there…Immaculate Reception. I think your running style, the way you catch the ball out of the backfield thing that you do, you’re very similar to him as I remember him. Certainly got a great football team to go to. I’ve always been very impressed with Coach Tomlin. Great man, great resource for you, great role model for you as well. But very, very happy. I think Le’Veon does things out of the backfield whether not you can run them, you can be on special teams. He does it all. He is a complete football player. That’s what I’ve always been so excited about.

Q: Coach, could you take us through…obviously you spent time with Mike Tomlin, he asked you a lot of questions. Did you get a feel from them in that conversation that Le’Veon was his guy?

Dantonio: With the Steelers? Yeah, I talked to them. They were very impressed with him when we had our Pro Day here, not just in terms of what he did on the field but also the way he represented himself the night before as they spoke. Really, you never know how these things are gonna go. But very excited for him to get picked in the NFL draft. Obviously, as much as we’d like to have him back he made a great decision. A decision that will pay off for him.

Q: Can you talk about what Le’Veon meant to the team last season, just throughout his career?

Dantonio: From day one Le’Veon Bell was a guy that gave everything he had, whether it was in practice or whether it was on the game field. As I said earlier, we could put him at so many different positions. We asked him to return some punts last year, really on a whim. Just out of the blue, Hey go on back and catch. And he caught them. So we threw to him out of the backfield, split him out and great pass protector for us in different situations. Big blocking back, he understands protections. With Le’Veon, what he brings is great athletic abilities, size and power, but also great awareness of the game. Even going back to the little giants play when he was a freshman. He was the guy that on the wing, he was the guy that bumped and run. And to have faith in a guy that in that point in time in his career as a freshman really says it all. He’s dependable and he’s gonna make a big play. That’s something I’ve always respected.