Nov. 17, 2017
By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" There came a point after last season when Casey Dunn and Wilson Bell realized they needed a change.
Dunn had just finished up his junior season at Jacksonville State where the Gamecocks went 10-2 and lost to the eventual FCS runners-up Youngstown State. The Alabama native had started 27 straight games at center, but something was missing.
"I got complacent," Dunn said. "I was just in the everyday routine, just kind of bored where I was at the time with my lifestyle and where I was academically and where I was as a player.
"I started reading a little bit. I read a book about this guy. He was a big-time business guy. He actually got a Navy SEAL to come move in with him because he was the feeling the same way I was feeling. He was in a routine, and he needed someone to just push him harder. I prayed about it a lot, talked to my family, and then we decided that playing at a higher level, playing at the FBS level for one more year would be the best thing for me at the time."
Bell was already playing at a higher level. He signed with Florida State out of high school and was on the 2013 team that won the national championship. He started all 13 games at right guard for the Seminoles in 2015, but after falling out of favor with the coaching staff in 2016, he felt like his time there had expired. He wanted to his play final season somewhere else.
"I just decided it was my time to leave, so I got out and started letting schools know that I was getting ready to transfer," Bell said.
Because Dunn and Bell had already graduated or were scheduled to graduate from their respective schools, it allowed them the opportunity to transfer to a new school and play their final season without having to sit out.
As fate would have it, both wound up at Auburn.
"They were my second favorite team coming out of high school," Bell said. "It was a chance to come home; Gus Malzahn was always a God-fearing man; and I knew so many players on the team. It was a no-brainer."
Coming out of high school, Dunn nearly didn't play college football. He tore his ACL his junior year, and though he made a full recovery, there was little to no recruiting interest until his aunt ran into then Jacksonville State assistant coach John Grass at the hotel where she worked. She told Grass about Dunn, and it just so happened that Grass, formerly of Oxford High School, was coaching against Dunn's team the game he suffered the injury.
That conversation was the beginning of Jacksonville State's recruitment of Dunn, and eventually he joined the program as a preferred walk-on in 2013. The next year, when Grass became the head coach, Dunn earned a scholarship.
Now, three years later, Dunn is the starting center for a top-10 Auburn team.
"First of all, it's all God," Dunn said. "It's his movie. He's directing it. I'm just the actor in the leading role. It's crazy how I got here. I can't sum up the words for how thankful I am for Coach Grass and that staff, and Coach [Bill] Clark when he was there for bringing me in."
By playing his final year at Auburn, Dunn knew he would be trading in a for-sure starting job at Jacksonville State for the chance to maybe play at Auburn. The common belief was that he would simply add depth to an offensive line that was returning three starters the following season, one of which was Austin Golson, the team's starting center the previous two seasons.
But that was a risk Dunn was willing to take.
"My mindset is just go as hard as you can," he said. "You put yourself in this new pressured situation where I'm coming into a new environment and a new team, so basically, this was like a new start. You were at the top of the totem pole. Now you're at the bottom. You have to make a name for yourself."
When Dunn first arrived, it took time to learn the new offense and get used to the physicality of playing in the SEC. He played against Auburn and LSU when he was at Jacksonville State, but now he was going up against SEC-caliber players every day in practice.
As expected, the newcomer began this season behind Golson at center. But when Darius James went down with an injury in the Mercer game, the coaches slid Golson out to right tackle and inserted Dunn at center. He stayed there, even after James returned, and started the next three games before he suffered an injury in the LSU game.
Dunn would miss the Arkansas game, but he returned to the starting lineup against Texas A&M, and he played arguably his best game yet this past Saturday against No. 1 Georgia, earning SEC offensive lineman of the week honors for his efforts.
"I think he's just brought some toughness," Auburn offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey said. "He was a really good player at Jacksonville State and he's come in here and held his own. We felt really good about him, and once he got going and got in the rhythm, I think he's really done a nice job."
None of it would have been possible had Dunn not taken a chance.
When Bell arrived at Auburn, there was a different type of adjustment that had to be made. Playing at Florida State, he was used to the physicality ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" he went against four- and five-star recruits every day at practice. But at 365 pounds, he was out of shape and not prepared for running Auburn's up-tempo offense. It was a rude awakening.
However, while he's not cracked the rotation on the offensive line just yet, Bell has slimmed down to around 330 pounds and is ready for when his name might be called upon.
"You just always have to be ready," Bell said. "Any time the offense is on the field or any time it's third down, you're getting ready because you never know what can happen.
"Football is so tricky, especially college football, and I've been through this a couple times. I've seen guys go down the first snap. And the guy that was pouting all practice has to go in the game, and the team is counting on him. I don't want to be that guy to let the team down."
So Bell is always paying attention every day at practice, every game. When starting right guard Braden Smith comes off the field, Bell is asking him about the defensive linemen. "How are they punching? Are they doing what they saw the previous week on film?" Basically, he's just taking in everything he can so there will be no dropoff if he's forced into the game.
Ultimately, this is likely not the season Bell was envisioning when he made the decision to transfer to Auburn for his final season. But regardless of playing time and all that, he's found a new family, and he thanks God every day for that.
"To be honest with you, Auburn is like a true family," Bell said. "I know some teams they say it, but Auburn is a true family. There's no division in the locker room. Everybody is for everybody in the locker room. Even when a guy's not starting, he's up and cheering the starter on. There are no individuals in the locker room.
"I played for a different team where it was more cliqued up than other places. This school here, it's a true family. I saw that when I came, and I fell in love with it all over again."
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf