Not the big time, but still good times

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

For all the players that Long Beach Poly has sent on to professional football -- there have been dozens of them -- the NFL player standing on the Jackrabbits’ sideline during their 20-7 loss at Birmingham graduated from Long Beach Millikan.

Jason Bell, a 1996 graduate of Millikan who went on to UCLA, is in his seventh season in the NFL and now plays for the New York Giants but is on the injured reserve list because of degenerated disk in his back. He is likely to sit out the season while rehabbing the condition.

The 29-year-old free safety, who had stints with Dallas and Houston, has followed the Jackrabbits since his high school days at rival Millikan. These days, he and Poly boys’ basketball Coach Sharrief Metoyer are roommates in a Buena Park house during the NFL’s off-season, and Bell has become a familiar figure on the Jackrabbits’ campus and sidelines while resting and rehabilitating his back.

‘It definitely brings back memories,’ Bell said as he watched the Jackrabbits game Friday at Birmingham. ‘Everything was simpler, more pure back then.’

- Lauren Peterson