When Jim McElwain was hired at Colorado State following the 2011 season after the Rams crawled to two straight 3-9 campaigns, CSU cornerback Shaq Bell was halfway done with his college football career.

After spending equal time under former Colorado State coach Steve Fairchild and then his successor in McElwain, Bell noticed the shift in the improving culture of the CSU program. In his final two seasons in 2012 and 2013, the Kissimmee, Fla., native served as a versatile leader for the Rams' secondary while winning double as many games as he did in his previous two years.

Inside the Gators to touch on multiple topics regarding McElwain's time at Colorado State, Mac's qualities, and what former CSU coaches Mike Kent bring to the table for the Gators. Bell spoke withto touch on multiple topics regarding McElwain's time at Colorado State, Mac's qualities, and what former CSU coaches Tim Skipper andbring to the table for the Gators.

ITG: How was your experience with McElwain for two seasons at Colorado State?

Bell: He came in with a goal in mind. With the change of coach, at first getting rid of the cancer, he did that. He said that we were going to win, and my first year we won more games than I've ever won - we won four games the first year he got there. The previous two years we only won three so it started to change right away. The next year we won eight games. He's just a genuine guy. He wants the best for you on and off the field. He wants his kids to succeed in life, graduate school and just be a better person once you're done with football. Once he got to start coaching and with his coaching staff, they just brought liveliness and they just brought life into our team.

ITG: Expand on what you meant by the "cancer" Mac helped the CSU program rid itself of.

Bell: When he got there the first two weeks, there were three fights like every week he got there. First week, second week and third week, he has a fight each week. That was a cancer like that was before he got there. It kept going like right until he got there until the third weekend. He said it in the meeting: We'll get rid of the cancer, so you know, the guys that will - you have troublemakers and not passing some drug test. He didn't do it. They did it to themselves. They ended up getting sorted out and they ended up not on the team anymore and ended up transferring to another school.

ITG: From that point until your senior year in 2013, in what ways did he help clean up the culture of the program in a year's time?

Bell: I don't remember there being any fights my senior year. Guys weren't getting in trouble as much as we used to. That decreased a lot. But it was making sure we take care of each other. It was a real brotherhood. Once he got there, we started getting us closer. Because I remember one day he said - when he first got there he had two starters, an offensive starter and a defensive starter, who walked by each other and they didn't even speak. And he wanted to change that right off the bat. He made it his business to make sure we all got to know each other as teammates.

ITG: Revamping the football facilities has been something UF has made an effort to do since McElwain arrived. How did he work with Colorado State's facilities and what did he think of those?

Bell: From my freshman year up until when he got there, they were just plain. Once he made the changes, we started putting up pictures of all the football players and all of that on the walls. Like painting the walls green and gold, even changing the floor colors. It ended up looking more like a university once he got there and started changing things around.

ITG: From getting to know him, how would you describe McElwain's personality and how did he connect with you?

Bell: He's an up-front guy. When I met with him, he told me he wanted me to be a leader. That's from like 1-on-1 meetings. He'll stay on you about it. He holds everyone accountable. He doesn't have any favorites. He coaches everybody the same.

ITG: McElwain has brought up the "dead fish" and "dead trout" metaphors a bunch since he's been here at UF. One of his former CSU players a few weeks ago told me about his Charlie the Tuna and dead fish motivational routine. How many times did he do that?

Bell: He just did it throughout the whole football season. We would come from class and we'd get a meeting and we'd just look around while we're sitting down. Then, he would just put a dead fish up there with his tongue hanging out and he'd say that's how we looked. Then he'd put up the Charlie the Tuna dude on the tuna can and said that's what we need to be like, smiling and energetic. It was actually a picture - I guess he got it from like Google. He'll put them on the overhead projector so everybody could see it on the big screen.

ITG: Getting back on track, how did he differ from some of the past coaches you worked with?

Bell: I would say up-tempo. He made sure all the coaches were involved and all the players were involved like getting reps, not just sitting around and not doing anything and being distracted on the sideline. So everyone was working, all the coaches were in-tune. You could get energy off the coaches. It felt like they wanted to play with us. It was that type of tempo. Like it's all fast-paced. You're bouncing around to get water, then you're bouncing around to the other field.

ITG: Were you surprised at all to see McElwain leave to Florida? Did you think he was going to build a legacy at Colorado State, or did you think he was on the move at some point?

Bell: Me personally, eventually you knew he would leave because he is an SEC kind of a coach. Coach Mac's a good coach, came in and changed it for us, so I'm not saying I'm surprised he left, but I didn't know he'd leave this soon. I'm proud of him for making that next step because Florida is my town's favorite team, so I texted him right after like, "Welcome to the Swamp."

ITG: What did he text you back?

Bell: He was like, "Thanks Shaq."

ITG: Do you still keep in touch?

Bell: I haven't talked to him since, but I'm going to check in on him and Coach Kent and Coach Skip - probably when the spring rolls around when they really can see all the guys progressing.

ITG: He wasn't your position coach, but what were your interactions with Skipper like?

Bell: Coach Skip is a good man. He's one of the funny coaches, but at the same time he's going to coach you good, he's going to be hard on you because he knows the potential you have in you. So he's going to coach you hard, get you to understand what you're doing, break it down into detail. I played nickel some, so he'd coach me some like I was a linebacker. So he'd tell me how to line up. He just coaches the right way.

ITG: Obviously you spent a lot of time with Kent, your strength and conditioning coordinator. How would you describe his workouts?

Bell: When he first got there, it was hard. He had us doing all things - getting flexible, bending, just doing things we didn't previously do so we had to adjust to that. Once you adjust to it, it was a good workout. But from the start, it was hard.

ITG: What is Kent's personality like?

Bell: Coach Kent has a personality like none other. He'll give you stares one moment and then he'll just bust out laughing. He has a one-of-a-kind sense of a humor. He's a guy who will tell you how it is. He won't sugarcoat anything with you. You need that from coaches. Overall, Coach Kent was good. I miss Coach Kent.

ITG: How did you see the health and conditioning of this team change over time when Kent was there?

Bell: Like I said, he made sure that we were getting flexible and getting your bending right. As far as the lifts, whatever it was we focused on that. We'd start with squats, then we'd do overhead, single-leg squats. Then we'll do dumbbell jumps. He was getting like almost every muscle in-tune. As far as conditioning, we never ran over 60 yards. With the other strength coach, we always used to do one 10 half, we'd do gassers. We didn't do any of that with Coach Kent. Most we ran was like 60-yard intervals, 50, 40. The other intervals ranged from like 25-40 yards or 5 yards to 30 and things like that. He had us take a before and after picture and he said if you're body doesn't improve then he didn't do his job right. So you know he's taking the job very seriously.