David Bell grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, and played football at Central Warren High School earning first-team all-state honors as a senior. Bell was named Marion County Athlete of the Year and Male Athlete of the Year and finished runner-up as Indiana’s Mr. Football. In his senior season, he reeled in 85 receptions for 1,542 yards and 22 touchdowns. His individual success was paramount for the Central Warren Warrior's as they went on to win their class 6A state title that season as well.
Bell played in the All-American Bowl and shined brightly which resulted in several offers from Penn State, Auburn, Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Tennessee to name a few. The four star recruit selected Purdue and it turned out to be an excellent decision for his career development.
At Purdue, Bell played in 29 games over the course of three seasons. He amassed 232 receptions for 2,946 receiving yards with 21 touchdowns. As a freshman, he broke out at age 18.7 with 86 receptions for 1,035 yards, and 7 touchdowns. That early production put him on the map as a future NFL prospect with immense upside.
Bell earned First Team All-Big Ten honors in 2020 and 2021. The 2020 recognition was impressive as he only played in 6 games due to a COVID shortened season. He was well on his way to another dominant season posting 53 receptions for 625 years. In 2021, Bell continued his torrid pace and led the Boilermakers in receptions and receiving yards. For some fun perspective on how active Bell was over his three seasons at Purdue, he had only 57 fewer receptions than Treylon Burks (32 games) and Garrett Wilson (32 games) combined in their 64 career games played.
In 2020, Bell earned Academic All-Big Ten honors which I appreciate in a prospect's profile. His major is Financial Counseling and Planning. Besides being reliable in the classroom, he only missed one game due to injury and that was after taking a massive hit from star Safety, Kyle Hamilton from Notre Dame. Bell sustained a concussion and there were no other notable injuries.