#14

Malcolm Bell

Senior defensive back on Michigan State's 2025 roster. From Montreal, PQ — one of 82 players from Canada in FBS this season.

DB · Michigan State · Sr. · #14

6′2″ · 188 lb · Montreal, PQ

CFB Index 57 · #147 of 364 cornersLow confidence

Recruiting

3★

CB recruit

No. 2129 nationally · Signed with UConn

Last played in 2025.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Senior defensive back on Michigan State's 2025 roster. From Montreal, PQ — one of 82 players from Canada in FBS this season.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to UConn in 2021.
Transferred from UConn to Michigan State in 2025.

The full story, with sources

How he projects

Hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away.

The full scouting read

Malcolm Bell

DB · Michigan State · Sr · #14

Hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away. Three head coaches in five seasons, at two different programs. The receipt on tape: 8 tackles, 1 TFL against Penn State, Week 12, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
game log

Career stats

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

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

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@ 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@ Indiana	7	5	0.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 9	L 20-31vs 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

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 3 · 2025

W 41–24

vs Youngstown State

0.5 tackles for loss · 3 tackles · 1 pass breakups

With A. Chiles — 270 yds · 1 TD · 1 INT · QBR 76.6 · 76 rush yds (8 car) · O. Kelly — 4 rec · 49 yds

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2021UConn1-11HC: Lou Spanos · Balanced

2022UConn6-7HC: Jim Mora · Run-heavy, slow tempo

2023UConn3-9HC: Jim Mora · Balanced

2024UConn9-4HC: Jim Mora · Run-leaning

2025Michigan State4-8HC: Jonathan Smith · Balanced

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

57Quality starter #147 of 364?

Low confidenceReinvented6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: passes defended (94th percentile). Strength: solo tackles (83rd percentile). Concern: qb hurries (22nd percentile).

Box-score production (6)

Passes defended#144 / 2975 · 94th pct

Solo tackles#483 / 2975 · 83rd pct

Tackles for loss#553 / 2975 · 80th pct

5.0

Tackles#628 / 2975 · 79th pct

Sacks#847 / 2975 · 63rd pct

1.0

QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Defensive profile

Defender profile · Production by role

Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet

49 tkl · 5 TFL · 1 sacks · 6 PD

PD rate

12%6 pass breakups

Tackle volume

49tackles this season

TFL rate

10%5 TFL

49 tackles · 5 for loss · 1 sacks · 6 pass breakups.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home7g	3.4	0.3	0.0	0.3
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

2026 season

Head Coach

Pat Fitzgerald

Pass share

39.4%

78 pass / 120 run

Plays / game

66.0

3 games

Team sack rate

10.1%

89 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-heavy.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Part-time starter

Tackle volume for the position in part-time-starter range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

57 · #147 of 364 corners

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

How the All-Big Ten estimate is computed

15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

Malcolm Bell

2021

202512 games

Career stats

Game log

Signature game

2025 snapshot

Defensive profile

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

How he plays

Where he came from

DNA match

Rover

Players who play like Malcolm Bell