Malcolm Bell is a defensive back who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Michigan State.
Bell hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away. Played for three head coaches at two programs in five seasons: Lou Spanos, Jim Mora and Jonathan Smith. On tape: 8 tackles and 1 tackle for loss against Penn State, Week 12, 2025.
Play style
Hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
49 tackles. 6 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
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| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Michigan State | 49 | 31 | 5.0 | 1.0 | 6 |
| 2024 | UConn | 26 | 22 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 3 |
| 2023 | UConn | 28 | 19 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 4 |
| 2022 | UConn | 36 | 23 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 6 |
| 2021 | UConn | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | -- |
| Career | 141 | 97 | 10.0 | 1.0 | 19 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 12 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 23-6vs Western Michigan | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 42-40vs Boston College | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 41-24vs Youngstown State | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 4 | L 31-45@ No. 25 USC | 5 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 27-38@ Nebraska | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 7 | L 13-38vs UCLA | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 13-38@ No. 3 Indiana | 7 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | L 20-31vs No. 25 Michigan | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 20-23@ Minnesota | 7 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 12 | L 10-28vs Penn State | 8 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 8 tackles |
| Wk 13 | L 17-20@ Iowa | 5 | 5 | 2.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 38-28vs Maryland | 7 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Total | 49 | 31 | 5.0 | 1.0 | — | 6 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
12%6 pass breakupsTackle volume
49tackles this seasonTFL rate
10%5 TFL49 tackles · 5 for loss · 1 sack · 6 pass breakups.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 2.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Road5g | 5.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.8 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 2.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 6.0 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.7 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jonathan Smith
Pass share
49.7%
378 pass / 382 run
Plays / game
63.3
12 games
Team sack rate
8.0%
424 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2025
About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS defensive back who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #147 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-Big Ten
Based on 2025: #34 of 77 Big Ten DBs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
The role got bigger.
Coaching lineage · 2021–2025
3 coachesPlayed for 3 head coaches at 2 schools: Lou Spanos, Jim Mora and Jonathan Smith.
From Montreal, PQ — one of 83 players from Canada in FBS this season.
