Pitt offensive coordinator Kade Bell isn't shy about his desire to reach for lofty goals

Kade Bell knows enough about offense, play-calling and the challenges inherent in college football to understand that a goal of averaging 50 points might be unrealistic.

But you have to know that Bell, Pitt’s 31-year-old, first-year offensive coordinator, doesn’t allow facts to get in his way of getting a job done.

Sure, he understands the obvious, admitting Wednesday on the first day of Pitt’s training camp, “Not many teams in the country (average 50) a year, probably one or two.”

Maybe none.

It hasn’t been done on the FCS level since 2013 when Baylor (52.4) and national champion Florida State (51.6) passed the half-century milestone.

But Bell’s greater point is the desire for the offense look good and be productive while reaching for that goal. If it’s playing fast and scoring faster — as goes the pithy expression that’s heard around every corner at Pitt’s practice facility — falling short of 50 points doesn’t equate to failure.

“When we set the standard here as an offense, the first thing is our goal is to average 50 points a game,” said Bell, who’s been Western Carolina’s OC for the past three seasons. “That’s a tough goal.”

It’s the perspective in reaching for that goal that matters, he said.

“What does 50 points look like? You have to create explosive plays. You have to take care of the football. You have to be efficient throwing the football. You have to be able to run the football, not just out in space, but you have to be able to run the ball when you have to run the ball and be physical to set up the pass.

“The standard is just doing everything the right way, with details.”

What’s Bell really looking for?

Pretty offense, he said. That’s right, like a painting hanging in a museum.

“Coach (Pat Narduzzi) makes fun of me all the time,” Bell said. “When I pause the film, I want things to look pretty. When you pause that film and everybody is in the (proper) areas, you want it to look pretty. You don’t want people on top of each other, all crunched together.

“It makes the quarterback’s job a lot easier when he drops back when everything looks pretty, and you know who to throw the ball to.”

Narduzzi has entrusted Bell with the job of digging Pitt out of last place in the ACC in total yards (317.9 per game) and points (20.2, considerably less than 50). Bell’s personality comes across as someone who knows what he’s doing and isn’t afraid to say so. Asked what makes a good play-caller, Bell had a ready answer.

“A guy who’s not afraid of the moment. A guy who believes in what he’s doing.”

To illustrate his point, Bell told a story about his father, Kerwin Bell, a former NFL quarterback who backed up Dan Marino in 1988.

Kerwin Bell, the current head coach at Western Carolina, was at Valdosta (Ga.) State when his 24-year-old son was his wide receivers coach and soon-to-be play caller.

“I would do my game plan. My dad would do his, my second year there (2017),” he said. “We’d come together, and a lot of times we had a lot of the same plays. He decided to let me go in the box and call it (on game day).”

First, Kerwin Bell had to ask, “Hey, are you ready?”

“He’s asking if I’m nervous,” Kade Bell said, recalling the exchange.

“Oh, I’m ready,” he said he told his dad. “I said, ‘I called more third-and-7s than you have.’

“He said, ‘What do you mean?’

“Dad, I’ve been playing Madden and NCAA Football (video games) since I was 5 years old. That’s a great story of why I feel like (I can call plays). Playing college football is no different than a guy who’s flying a plane. You learn how to fly off a simulator. Shoot, man, you play Madden and call a bunch of third-and-7s, it’s no different than calling them in real life.”

But Bell didn’t learn everything he knows about football by playing video games. Far from it. He learned it like many young people learn lessons in life — simply by listening to his father.

“I was the kind of kid who sat in his lap when I was really young, watching film. That’s what interested me, the mental part of the game.

“I was a good athlete,” said Bell, a four-year starting quarterback who threw for 9,613 yards and accounted for 93 touchdowns at Jacksonville University. “But I wasn’t the most talented arm guy. The reason I was a good college player, I had a lot of good players around me and I knew how to get them the ball.”

On his days off, Bell walked into the coaches’ game plan meetings and sat down. He didn’t wait for an invitation.

“Because I wanted to know,” he said. “I knew this is what my calling was.”

Bell has put his stamp on the Pitt offense, bringing running back Desmond Reid and wide receiver Censere Lee with him from Western Carolina.

“That’s mainly the reason I came,” Reid said, “because Kade Bell was here. I trust Kade.”

Play-calling and recruiting are two aspects of Bell’s job at Pitt, but he also has a quarterback room brimming with six young men with zero or minimal collegiate starting experience. Junior Nate Yarnell has been named QB1, with Alabama transfer and redshirt freshman Eli Holstein No. 2.

“Right now, Nate’s the guy. He’s the leader of the offense right now,” Bell said. “He’s the guy who we named the starter, and Eli’s the guy who’s pushing him.”

Bell said Holstein was slowed by a sore hamstring in spring ball.

“He couldn’t move at all,” Bell said. “He was trying to throw the ball a lot from the pocket. Anytime he took off he would kind of limp some.”

But Holstein was healthy Wednesday at the outset of camp.

“He’s really pushing Nate,” Bell said. “They both want to be the starting quarterback. All it’s doing is making Nate better, and Nate knows he has to do the little things right and take control of the team because Eli, just like any other quarterback, wants to play.”