5-Star Texas QB Commit Reveals Inital Dream Was to Take Cooper Flagg Route at Duke

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Kevin Matthew Borba | Last updated Jun 26, 2025 4:33 PM ET

When considering all that the five-star Texas quarterback commit Dia Bell has accomplished at quarterback over the past couple of years, one would assume he was always destined for stardom on the gridiron.

He has posted a 19-4 record as the starter at Florida powerhouse American Heritage, has thrown for over 4,500 yards in that span and was also named the 2025 Elite 11 MVP.

However, when examining Bell's family and their athletic success, it has been primarily on the hardwood. His father, Raja Bell, had a 12-year NBA career that saw him garner an All-NBA Defensive team nod in 2007 and 2008. His aunt, Tombi Bell, played basketball at Florida, before a career in the WNBA.

His younger brother is a 2028 basketball recruit who already has around 10 scholarship offers.

So, for Dia Bell to be focused on football, it's a bit out of the norm for his family. However, when chatting with Danny Knnell recently, the Texas commit revealed it wasn't until COVID that he decided to not play basketball.

"Growing up, it was always basketball," Bell said. "I wanted to go play basketball at Duke. Like that's what I was set on. As time went on, COVID kinda came around and you couldn't really get in gyms anymore and I started like shifting my focus to football really.

"And I kind of figured out that I could use that as my own navigating tool to kind of create my own name and my own kind of legacy and not kind of be in his shadow," Bell added.

While he chose football, he did seem well on his way to basketball stardom as he averaged 20.7 points per game as a freshman and 13.9 points per game as a sophomore.

With his focus solely on football and being a dynamic athlete, Bell seems like the perfect candidate to replace Arch Manning whenever he departs for the NFL.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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