A look at former Buc QB Kerwin Bell's life after leaving college If I had left after my junior year, I would have been a first-round draft choice. But my senior year I missed four games because of an injury and my numbers were down because we ran a lot in '87, and I don't know how many touchdown passes were dropped that year, probably ten, so I didn't put up nearly the numbers I had as a sophomore, and so people thought I had mixed out, and in the draft I was a seventh-round pick of the Miami Dolphins. I was really upset after the first day, when the draft went four rounds and I wasn't packed So when the Dolphins called me, I was just glad to go somewhere. Now they keep three quarterbacks and another one on the practice roster, but back then in the NFL teams were only keeping two quarterbacks. And at the time Miami had Dan Marino and Don Strock . When they drafted me they told me they were looking for a young guy as a third-stringer because Strock was getting older I had a good camp. Dan Marino was a big help to me. He'd tell me some reads I wasn't making, and he'd always come up and make suggestions to drop balls. They just weren't and help me as much as he could. Right before the season started Don Shula called me into his office and said, "We're going to have to cut you because we're only keeping two quarterbacks. But he said, 'You can play somewhere in this league, and I've already called some teams.” That year the Atlanta Falcons picked me up off the waiver wire. They made some final cuts, and they released me but they told me they were going to pick me up again, and they did I spent my rookie year with Atlanta. It was a totally different offense. I never did grasp it. I didn't play because they went with their starters and were trying to win games, so that was a wasted year for me I sat there and didn't do anything. I was a Plan B free agent, and Ray Perkins, the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers called me and said he wanted me to sign with them in 1989. Tampa also had two quarterbacks, Vinny Testaverde and Joe Ferguson, who was a veteran. It was going to be his last year, and Perkins wanted me to come in and be third sting for a year and then hopefully I would move up. I probably made a mistake signing with them, because right before I signed with Tampa Bay. Lindy Infante, the head coach of the Packers, called me and said he wanted me to sign with the Packers. I was living in Florida, I'm from Florida, nut as I look back on my career. that might have been my one opportunity, because Lindy was going to camp with five quarterbacks and not one of them was a starter. And instead of fighting for that job, I went to Tampa Bay knowing I was the third-stringer. That didn't make sense, but I was thinking Tampa Bay not Green Bay. I was young, and I wanted to stay closer to home So that was my one chance, and I didn't take it. Maybe I wouldn't have ended up the man, but I could have competed for the starting job, instead of winding up third string Tampa left me unprotected, and during the summer of 1990, Lindy called me again. This time Don Majkowskl was the starter. I went there and took the physical, worked out for the Packers, and flew home to Gainesville Cris Collinsworth had a big golf tournament, and Neal Anderson had come down to play in it with me, and the night before Neal and I were playing basketball in Mayo in a Fame, and I blew out my knee. I tore my ACL tore everything. I had to have reconstructive knee surgery. That ruined my chances with Green Bay. In 1990 Steve Spurrier hired me as a graduate assistant at Florida while I rehashed my knee, which took six months. I was one hundred percent. In 1991, they started the World league and I went to a training camp held jointly by all the teams, and I was drafted in the first round by the Orlando Thunder coached by Don Matthews, a Canadian Football League coach. Don was the all-time winningest coach in the history of the CFL I played there for two years, and then I went to the CFL for the first time with the Sacramento Gold Miners. Sacramento was the only CFL team in the States. All the away games were played in Canada. When they signed me I was going to be the starter, but then they signed David Archer, who had been with the Philadelphia Eagles, and when Sacramento gave him a lot of money, David signed with us. So I became the backup Kay Stephenson. who had gone to the University of Florida was the head coach. I was with Sacramento for a year and a half and that was when I really got involved in coaching. Kay would let me draw up the plays during the week when I watched film of our next opponent, and I'd give them to him and he'd use some of them. And I'd help him on the sideline. Then halfway through the next season David got hurt. and I went in. Then Lindy Infante got the head job at Indianapolis, and he brought me to Indianapolis I was there in '96 and '97. I didn't play much. I had left college in '88, and this was '96. and I had yet to complete a pass m the NFL But Jim Harbaugh got hurt, and against the Philadelphia Eagles, our backup started and got hurt In the first half, and I played the whole second half and I went 5 for 5 for 75 yards and a touchdown. I tell people it only took me eight years to complete a pass and score a touchdown! And that was my only action. I didn't play again in '96 and I didn't play at all in '97. So for my NFL career, I'm 5 for 5 for 75 yards. l am the all-time leading passer In NFL history! I have a perfect rating. You can't have a higher rating than what I have. We had a bad year in '97, finishing 3-13, and Lindy got fired. Jim Mora became the coach. My contract was up, and they were going to draft Peyton Manning. Meanwhile, Doug Flutie left Toronto to go to Buffalo to get back into the NFL, and the Toronto coach, Don Matthews, called me and asked me to be his starting quarterback in '98. In the first pre-season game I broke my left arm and missed the first four regular season games. I came back, and for the last fourteen games of the season I led the CFL in passing. I threw for right at 5.000 yards, had 27 touchdown passes, a CFL record, and had the highest completion percentage at around 67 percent. That's the all-time record for the CFL. That was a great year Then Don Matthews left and went to Edmonton, and Toronto said they wanted to go younger and wanted to run the ball more, and they traded me to Winnipeg for four players. We struggled in Winnipeg because they hadn't won but two or three games. We finished 6-12. but it was a tough year, though we finished strong. I came back in 2000 and got hurt. I had to miss live games. When my backup played well, I was expendable because I was making the most money. During this time Toronto hired a young guy, Mike Clemons to be their coach. He was my age, 36, a running back who I had played with. They called him "Pinball" and they love him in Toronto He's been there for twelve years They asked him to be the head coach and asked me to come back to play quarterback and be the offensive coordinator. We started the season 1-7-1, and halfway through the year we redid the whole offense We went 6-3 the last nine games. So we turned it around. I was putting all the game plans in, and then after the season we brought in an offensive coordinator, and I worked with him, and so the 2001 season was going to be my last year. It was my thirteenth year, and I was 36, and I wanted to have one more great year, but I hurt my ankle badly in the first game tore ligaments, and I mussed the first nine games. I came back, and we went 4 and 2 the last six games, but we were out of the playoffs. I was a tough year all around. We were not very good. I want to get into coaching. I took a job at Trinity Catholic school in Ocala. They are starting a brand new program. I may do that as a transition before deciding whether I want to coach in college or the pros. This article comes from the book "Gators" by Peter Golenbeck.