Blake Bell wasn’t supposed to be a quarterback.

His father and an uncle played defensive end in the NFL for a combined 18 seasons, so Bell’s initial decision to play the same position was out of desire to follow in their footsteps.

But when Bell entered highs school, Bishop Carroll (Wichita, Kan.) coach Alan Schuckman didn’t have a place on the defensive side of the ball for Bell.

So instead, Schuckman turned Bell into a wide receiver to avoid benching one of his team’s most talented players.

Although wide receiver was better than not seeing any playing time at all, Bell said he continued to be a student of the game, requesting a chance to learn one other position: quarterback.

“For some reason, I always wanted to play quarterback,” Bell said.

What seemed like a far-fetched change after spending most of his time on the other side of the ball, Bell let his arm strength do the talking to Carroll quarterbacks coach Dusty Trail.

Trail knew the type of athlete he had in front of him after watching Bell throw a baseball in middle school, but he said watching Bell transform into an elite high school quarterback was another surprise entirely.

“I was very ecstatic to see him based on his physical attributes and had heard about him early on,” Trail said. “When I finally got to see him throw a football, I was more pleased with his overall, natural motion.”

Trail spent most of the offseason between Bell’s sophomore and junior years molding the innate athleticism of the soon-to-be QB. Trail admitted that Bell’s inherent ability to throw a football made it much easier to train the young gunslinger.

“I gave him tips here and there about what to concentrate on, but I wouldn’t see him again for a couple of weeks,” Trail said. “But you could see his motion tightening up. He was just so natural, it wasn’t hard to get him to transition into the position.”

When Bell finally took the reigns of the offense, his abilities led to a seamless transition. During his junior year, Bell finished with 3,240 passing yards and 37 TDs in the air.

His 12 TDs on the ground made Bell a dual threat, forcing opposing defenses to respect both his arm and his ability to run the ball.

With stats to back up his capability, Bell received multiple scholarships from places like Georgia, Nebraska and Miami (Fla.).

But when Bell accepted a scholarship from OU, Trail knew the young QB had made the right decision.

“I was very excited for him,” Trail said. “The list of great quarterbacks is tremendous at OU. It’s a ‘who’s who’ of college elites. With all that tradition and a national quarterback who returned to his alma mater as a coach, I knew Bell would get great experience from the wealth of knowledge that (Josh) Heupel would provide.”

There is little doubt the Sooner coaching staff has created a “Quarterback U” atmosphere at Oklahoma.

During the past decade, OU has produced two Heisman winners under the direction of quarterbacks coach Heupel, who was the last QB to lead OU to a national championship.

The 2010 NFL draft further heightened the credentials of the QB fraternity when Sam Bradford became the highest-paid draft pick in NFL history.

If quarterbacks wants to learn how to be the best, they come to Norman, Trail said.

Now, Heupel and Bell get to showcase what they’ve been working on during Bell’s redshirt season. The practices and hard work have paid off, and the Sooners are enjoying the fruits of Bell’s labor.

During a 41-25 win against Texas A&M, Bell only had 37 yards from 12 carries, but those 37 yards were the most important ones of the game, usually called on 3rd-and-shorts when the Sooners needed a yard or two to keep from punting.

And Bell was successful on 6-of-7 third-down conversions.

Bell’s two rushing touchdowns during the game were the first multiple rushing TDs by a Sooner QB since Josh Heupel did it in 1999, and the pupil still is learning from the teacher.

“He’s doing a nice job of patience and finding seams,” OU coach Bob Stoops said after the A&M game. “If he just falls forward, he normally gets three yards. It’s been positive for us.”

And the positivity for Bell just keeps ringing true for his threatening 6-foot-6-inch, 255-pound reserve QB.

Against Baylor, Bell went a step further by rushing for four TDs, something no other Sooner QB had done since 1980, when wishbone quarterback J.C. Watts recorded the same performance against Oklahoma State.

Trail said he joked with Bell when the redshirt freshman returned to Kansas to see his family during the most recent bye week. The two have kept in touch throughout this season, and Trail wasn’t going to let the subject of nicknames go untouched.

“I’ve heard them all up here in Kansas, but I like the ‘Belldozer’ the most,” Trail said.

Call it what you like, but with seven TDs in three games after coming off the bench against Kansas State, Bell is becoming guaranteed points for the Sooners.

The only way the Belldozer package wouldn’t work is if a defender is able to shed the blocks set up by freshman fullback Aaron Ripkowski or senior tight end Trent Ratterree, which at this point seems unlikely — the pair conjure up memories of wishbone offenses’ blockers past.

But until that happens, Bell will continue to ring in the points and yardage when it matters the most for this Sooner offense. And as a quarterback.