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Joique Bell rushed for eight touchdowns last season, a team high. Is it possible he could push Reggie Bush for a starting job? (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

Joique Bell didn't go to USC. He didn't win a Heisman Trophy. He didn't even date Kim Kardashian.

In other words, Bell is not Reggie Bush.

But while he might not have the same kind of public profile, nor the same kind of contract -- in fact, he's a restricted free agent -- Bell just might have what it takes to overtake Bush in the Detroit Lions' backfield if he re-signs with the team.

"I have no question he could start," former offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said during his last week on the job. "He's a guy that can handle a pretty heavy load. The thing about him is he has versatility to do that. He can be in the role we have him now (or he can) start a game. He's a guy that can go out there and get 100 yards for you running the football as well as produce in the passing game.

"There's no question he can do it."

Joique Bell rushed for 650 yards last season, and had more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage.

Linehan was a huge Bell fan, but he was fired after the season along with head coach Jim Schwartz. That casts some uncertainty on everyone's future, particularly free agents such as Bell.

But it's difficult to see a scenario in which the Lions don't bring back their burgeoning tailback.

While Bush has been in the spotlight since the days he was rewriting the record books at Helix High School in Southern California, Bell is the ultimate underdog tale. He played his college ball at Wayne State, and though he won the Harlon Hill Trophy as Division II's best player, he almost didn't make the NFL at all.

He told a story this year of getting a call from New England's Bill Belichick after going undrafted in 2010. Belichick was offering a contract, and Bell said he'd call right back after speaking with his agent.

Bell called back a couple minutes later, but couldn't get through. Called again, and still couldn't get through.

Finally someone from New England called and said while Bell was talking to his agent, the Patriots had signed another tailback instead.

Bell eventually got his start with Buffalo, and after changing teams six times in 15 months, finally found a home in Detroit in 2012. He rose to prominence in 2013, rushing 166 times for 650 yards, and his eight touchdowns were twice as many as anyone else on Detroit's roster, including Bush.

He also caught 53 passes, and trailed only Calvin Johnson with 547 yards receiving.

Bell teamed with Bush to form one of the NFL's best 1-2 punches at tailback. But could those punches be reversed sometime soon?

Bush surpassed the 1,000-yard mark in 2013, but he lost four fumbles and dropped nine passes. Both were NFL highs among tailbacks. He'll be 28 by the start of next season, and the inevitable decline doesn't seem far off.

Bell is hardly any younger, at 27, but his long road to an NFL lineup has preserved his legs. He has only 248 carries, compared to Bush's 1,190, and appears to just be entering his prime.

"I feel like I'm 23, 24 years old," Bell said. "This is the first heavy load I've had, and it wasn't even that heavy. How many carries I have this season, 100-something? It's a nice piece of work, but not a heavy load yet."

Bell said he would hang back in Allen Park for a while to rest up and initiate his offseason program. He plans to spend a couple weeks in Atlanta training with Calvin Johnson before OTAs, and then will spend some time in Los Angeles working out before training camp.

He could work out with Bush while in Southern California.

And it wouldn't be a shock if Bell returned to Allen Park a couple weeks later competing for his job.