Florida State's Walt Bell not your typical coach

With a backwards cap and gym shorts on, Walt Bell is all smiles walking onto the Florida State practice fields.

He’s not your typical offensive coordinator -- he’s not even a typical Power-5 college football coach -- because of his age and demeanor.

Bell, 33, is the youngest member of FSU’s coaching staff by four years, but he already holds one of the highest coordinator positions in the country. He also works as the Seminoles’ quarterbacks coach.

But don’t let his age fool you, he knows what he’s talking about.

“He’s a sharp guy, and he’s smart,” FSU head coach Willie Taggart said.

“He knows quarterback play and understands the system we’re putting in. He’s very involved with those guys and very demanding of them. That’s always good at that position. And he’s passionate about football. He lives and dies football.”

Bell played wide receiver at Middle Tennessee State from 2003-2006, but if you ask him about it, he’ll tell you he did more blocking than receiving during his time there.

Once he got into coaching in 2007, he learned the ins-and-outs of the quarterback position quickly. He’s worked as the quarterbacks coach at Arkansas State, Maryland, and now FSU since 2013.

"Coach Bell has a lot of energy," FSU quarterback Deondre Francois said.

"Much younger than our previous offensive coaches... We can relate to him."

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Watching Bell during practice is interesting.

He jokes and laughs when explaining a concept to the quarterbacks, sometimes making larger than life motions to exaggerate his point.

During one drill early in the spring, the quarterbacks were working on getting the ball out of their hands as quickly as possible.

Bell -- seeing all three quarterbacks attempt the drill with longer wind-ups than he would like – steps in and starts miming a throwing motion that more resembles a baseball pitcher’s over the top throwing motion than anything James Blackman, Bailey Hockman, and Francois were doing.

The quarterbacks laugh, he laughs, and the drill goes on, but he’s gotten his point across and the following reps are much more to his liking.

“Coach Bell is doing a great job,” Francois said.

“He has a lot of energy. Every day coach Bell wakes up, he’s the same guy. He comes up early in the morning. Whatever mistakes we make, he corrects us and he coaches us. He’s more of a teacher. He does a great job of teaching us what he wants us to do instead of just telling us or showing us.

“He teaches us. He makes sure that we learn everything bit by bit, not throwing everything on us at one time.”

His charismatic coaching style -- and ability to get his point across without droning on and on -- have endeared him to the FSU quarterbacks.

It's also what makes him an excellent recruiter.

That and his ability to evaluate players at a young age and develop a relationship with them quickly.

That's what happened with Bell and four-star quarterback Sam Howell, who Bell was the first to offer when he was at Maryland.

"I’ve known coach Bell probably since I was 15 and he started recruiting me at Maryland," Howell said.

"We have a really good relationship. I know he’s very passionate about his quarterbacks. I know outside of football he cares for his quarterbacks like they’re his own kids. That’s also something that’s very important to me."

Bell has risen up the coaching ranks quickly and seems to be on the fast track to a head coaching position in the near future, but for the time being, FSU gets to benefit from his efforts.

“I love Coach Bell,” Hockman said.

“He’s always up front, he’s going to tell you ‘look, you’re doing this wrong, you’re doing this right.’ So you just know what you need to work on all the time, you know what you need to get better at. He’s a very sincere guy and I really like that about him.”

Saturday's scrimmage

Florida State's first real scrimmage of the spring was supposed to take place inside Doak Campbell Stadium, but Mother Nature had different ideas.

FSU was forced inside the indoor practice facility due to the weather, but the change in location didn't change the expectations.

"We’re going to evaluate the guys that can execute at a high level and can do it consistently," FSU head coach Willie Taggart said.

"That’s what we’re looking for at the end of the day: who can consistently do the things we’re asking them to do and make the plays we need them to make. Whenever there’s an 11-on-11 competition, you really want to see the guys who execute and do it consistently."

The scrimmage will be more like a game than anything the Seminoles have done this spring with the exception of special teams.

Center Alec Eberle, center Baveon Johnson, guard Minshew, defensive end Josh Kaindoh, defensive end Adam Torres, wide receiver Nyqwan Murray, defensive tackle Marvin Wilson, linebacker Emmett Rice, and defensive back Carlos Becker were at practice and not participating.

Wide receiver George Campbell, offensive tackle Jauan Williams, and running back Zaquandre White were not observed at practice.