Two Skyler Bell Plays That Stand Out to The Taft School Head Coach Tyler Whitley
Wisconsin received its first projected wide receiver commit on Sunday, and judging off of his junior Hudl highlights, Skyler Bell will bring an intriguing, versatile skillset to the football program.
Last season, Bell hauled in 36 passes for 549 yards and eight receiving touchdowns as a junior.
Tyler Whitley, head coach of The Taft School in Watertown, Conn., spoke with AllBadgers.com on Sunday afternoon about Bell, his development, strengths and areas of potential growth.
One of the last questions we also asked him, however, was if there was a play or plays from his wide receiver during his two years in his program that stand out to him?
According to Whitley, two plays popped into his head immediately --one from each year he played at The Taft School (the 2020 season for the program was canceled). The first highlight came during Bell's sophomore season in 2018 against Trinity-Pawling School.
"We had a quarterback who was very good. His name is Nolan Grooms who's playing at Yale right now," Whitley said. "Skyler was in the slot running a vertical right up the middle of the field, and Nolan put a ball on him right in his numbers. He caught it and got absolutely crushed. He caught the ball and 'Bam!' It was one that kind of goes 'bang-bang, catch, hit,' and went down and held on to the ball.
"We were like, 'Holy, how did you do that? How did you hold on?' He got up and just went about his way in the next play. That was kind of his coming out party where he made that catch, and we were like, 'Wow, OK, he's the real deal.'"
The second play came last season during Bell's junior year in a night contest against Williston Northampton School.
"We threw a bubble [screen] to him, and he went untouched 70 yards on a screen pass," Whitley said with a laugh. "He just outran everybody. Just caught the ball, outran everybody for 70 yards, and it was a really impressive play."
That play comes at the 44-second mark of the above highlight video.
"You can really see his speed at that point. When you're dealing with that level of an athlete, and you can catch a screen and go untouched, that's pretty impressive."
