How a former NC Central star is getting Duke QB Quentin Harris ready for the NFL draft

Malcolm and Harris.jpg

Quentin Harris used to be Malcolm Bell.

That sentence probably requires a bit of an explanation. No, there wasn’t some sort of freaky Friday, body switch experiment going on in Durham in 2016. The former Duke quarterback didn’t live a day in the life of the former North Carolina Central quarterback, fooling everyone while hilarity ensued.

But for at least one week, Harris did pretend to be Bell. The Blue Devils and Eagles opened the 2016 season against each other and Harris, then a freshman, drew the assignment of playing Bell, a senior at the time, on the Duke scout team.

“I remember wearing a red 15,” Harris recalled. “I knew of him vaguely, obviously we played that year and they were pretty good. I actually emulated him on the scout team in practice. Aside from that, I didn’t meet him. I was definitely aware of him.”

In an example of life coming full circle, when Harris was looking for a quarterback trainer to prepare for the upcoming NFL Draft, it was Bell who worked out his former doppelgänger.

Since his playing days ended in 2017, Bell, who led NCCU to The Celebration Bowl his senior year, has found a way to stay close to the game. The Richmond, Va., native always knew when he was done he wanted to train quarterbacks. It just happened that time came sooner than he expected.

His senior year, Bell led the Eagles to a perfect 8-0 record in the MEAC and its third consecutive conference title. That season, he passed for 2,431 yards and 17 touchdowns and left NCCU No. 2 in the record books for career passing yards. He’s also No. 14 on the all-time rushing leaders list. Bell went to camp with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League in 2017, but was released before the season started.

Instead of making another run at a professional career, Bell immediately moved on to his next phase. He had been training high school quarterbacks in Richmond, quickly making a name for himself as one of the best youth quarterback trainers in the area, working out several clients who have played at major Power 5 programs. When Harris needed some work leading into his pro day, Bell was his guy.

Bell took some trips to Durham to meet with Harris, who returned the favor by visiting Richmond a few times to get some work.

It never felt weird for Harris to be learning under a guy he was just playing against four years ago.

“I was very open and receptive to what he had to teach me,” Harris said. “Obviously, it’s better than what I can do on my own. I really thought that he had some great training. He was very knowledgeable on everything and I just trusted him from there.”

Bell is one of two former local quarterbacks in the training business. Former Duke quarterback Anthony Boone was recently praised by UNC signal caller Sam Howell for putting him through the paces in Charlotte. Harris said he also planned to work with Boone before the NFL draft.

“I throw with Anthony Boone,” Howell said recently during a virtual press conference. “I’ve been throwing with him since my freshman year of high school. We do a lot of stuff. We do a lot of mobility stuff, a lot of different types of stuff. He does a really good job of making sure he’s tuning up all parts of my game, whether it’s my feet, whether it’s my eyes, all different types of things.”

N.C. State’s Devin Leary, who passed for 1,219 yards and eight scores last season, worked out under the watchful eye of Bell in Richmond this offseason.

Bell, 26, started his training in Richmond, working with high school students, building his brand one trainee at a time. He was at an age when he still could have been playing, but thought this was the best way to stay close to the game. He doesn’t miss taking hits, but he gets the same satisfaction from his playing days when he sees someone he trained get better. His first prized pupil was Brendon Clark, who appeared in two games as a freshman last season for Notre Dame.

Harris put up modest numbers at Duke — 2,588 passing yards and 24 touchdowns in 35 games — and showed he can also make plays with his legs. Talk has shifted toward Harris (6-foot-1, 200 pounds) playing another position in the NFL, maybe wide receiver. Bell won’t hear of it.

“There’s nothing about Quentin that says receiver at all,” Bell said. “He’s a capable passer.”

Because of COVID-19, colleges couldn’t host traditional pro days. Harris instead traveled to Richmond where Bell put together a script and they recorded a training session for scouts to view ahead of the draft.

Harris was tutored by Bell on improving his footwork and throwing on the run. He also got a crash course on going through the proper reads. Since his pro day was canceled, it was important to get enough work on film to impress NFL front offices.

Bell has taken what he learned in four years at NCCU and a short pro career and become an up-and-coming quarterback guru. By adding his own teaching twists and drills, he hopes to groom the next wave of quarterbacks toward becoming pros.

Harris hopes he can become Bell’s biggest early success story.

Malcolm Bell