VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) – ”Jaheim Bell has had dreams of playing in the NFL since he was a child. After a successful collegiate career he’s days away from hopefully hearing his name called in the 2024 NFL Draft. Before he turns his focus to the Draft it was important for him to come home and give back to the community that poured so much into him in his third annual youth football camp.
“It means a lot to me. It’s not too many people doing this for the kids around this age and for them to be around somebody like me. Last year I was playing for Florida State but this year I’m getting ready for the draft and it just means a lot to me just to take the time out to do it because the process I’m going through right now is very stressful. It’s a lot of moving parts to it so just to be able to take time out to do this it means a lot to me,” said Bell.
295 campers in attendance, almost 100 more participants from a year ago all came out to learn from their hometown hero.
For many of the athletes in attendance seeing someone from Valdosta excel gives them hope for their future.
“I’ve been watching him since he was here in Valdosta so I feel like he’s a great player and I want to achieve what he achieved one day at life. Seeing somebody from my city do it makes me want to do it too. Same just seeing somebody from our city just inspires us knowing you can make it big,” said two campers.
Bell a 4 star coming out of Valdosta High School accounted for more than 1,000 all purpose yards during his sophomore and junior seasons as Wildcat. His message to anyone who wants to follow in his footsteps… keep your eye on the prize.
“Valdosta it’s easy to get in trouble here. So the thing for me is I always went to school and went to practice. I would tell them to have a small circle and make the main thing the main thing. If you want to make it out of Valdosta playing football then just grind keep your head down and stay focused.”
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