CHENEY, Wash. – Eastern Washington football kicks off in just under a week at Northern Arizona, and one set of brothers look forward to their one and only season playing together. We sat down with Nate and Jaxon Bell, the starting quarterback and reserve running back for EWU, and spoke to them about their journies to Cheney.
JACK WALLACE: Growing up in the game as brothers together, and just talk about that feeling when you first got on campus knowing that like you, you’re going to have that shared experience here in college, just like what you had growing up.
JAXON BELL: Growing up, it’s always been like a goal or a dream of mine to play with my brothers or brother. And the fact that this happened to now, it’s just an amazing opportunity we never got to in high school. We went to the same high school. But yeah, we never got to play with each other. So now that it’s happening, it’s going to be a great experience, and I’m super pumped.
NATE BELL: And just it was kind of funny, like just talking about it when he committed and be like, ‘oh, well, he’s going to be there’. And then like when it actually happened, he was living with me in the summer. It was like super cool. My dad was up here like kind of moving him in. So it was kind of super cool feeling.”
JW: What about this place really stood out that was like just had that itch of, ‘I got I got to be there. I got to go there. I got to represent the Eags and be on that field for them.’
JB: Everybody in the town is super involved. So, that was definitely a big part of it. Just going to the games when he was playing or for his freshman year when I was able to come and watch the games.It was just super cool to see everybody and like the environment of everything.
NB: It means a lot, the logo means a lot. It means a lot to the town. And just Eastern football is always like prided itself on tradition, I would say so. I mean, we want to win games. We want to get Eastern back on the top.
JW: When you hear about leaving a legacy at a place like this, what does leaving a legacy mean to you and your family?
NB: Obviously, Eastern’s name carries a lot of weight, as I was saying. But understanding that your last name carries a lot of weight, too. So when you’re walking around and you’re doing things around the community, like you’re, you’re affecting more people than yourself in a sense.
JB: As long as you can do your part and people look up to you, then you’re doing the right things.
JW: I had heard the Baby Bell nickname going around a little bit. Besides, I guess the obvious. What’s the story behind that? Have you kind of taken the name, or are you kind of not a fan of it? Like, how does that kind of work of being the baby bell of the team?
JB: Oh yeah, I’ve always been called that my whole life, pretty much since our older brother was playing. I was always Baby Bell. He would be a little bell. It’s kind of stuck now. And the fact that it’s here now, it’s pretty funny. So yeah.
NB: Yeah, yeah, it’s super ironic. Like you said, we’re older brothers. He was just Bell like that’s just him. And then I was a little bell and baby bell and he’s just running around as a little guy. But now obviously everyone we’re all on the same team here. So I don’t know how he feels about it. A lot of people are like, you know what I’m gonna call baby? And I’m just like smirking because I’m like, he’s got that a lot. So, I wonder how he’s going to… how he’s feeling about that.
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