Dia Bell finishes as a five-star and the No. 32 overall prospect in the 2026 Rivals 300
Texas Longhorns quarterback Dia Bell, a member of UT’s 2026 recruiting class who is currently enrolled as a member of the Longhorn football program, finished the 2026 cycle ranked as the No. 32 overall prospect in the Rivals 300. Bell maintains his five-star status as well, meaning another five-star quarterback is in the fold for the Longhorns.
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Bell was ranked as the No. 32 overall prospect and the No. 1 player in Florida.
A product of Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) American Heritage’s football program before opting to transfer to Mater Lakes Academy when his 2026 season was cut short, Bell committed to Texas on June 17, 2024. Bell missed most of his senior season with an undisclosed injury.
The son of former NBA star Raja Bell, Dia Bell was 341-for-511 for 5419 yards, 55 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions during his American Heritage career. He rushed for 776 total yards and 11 touchdowns as well.
Here’s Rivals director of scouting Charles Power on Bell via a 2025 scouting report.
Precision passer with the arm talent, size, and athleticism to translate to college football and beyond. Measured in at around 6-foot-2.5, 215 pounds with a 10-inch hand before his senior season. Mechanically clean with a smooth throwing motion that he replicates with consistency. Has polished footwork that is married to his upper body. Shows high-level arm talent, delivering well-placed passes to multiple levels of the field. A dangerous operator from the pocket. Able to evade pressure, reset his feet, and fire. Throws a pretty deep ball. Was a first-year starter as a sophomore and showed marked improvement while playing top competition as a junior. Flashed an added playmaking element and rushing component to his game down the stretch of his junior season. Ripped off long runs, including two 40+ yard touchdown runs against top programs. Completed 70.6% of his passes for 2,597 yards (11.4 yards per attempt) and 29 touchdowns against six interceptions in 2025. Also rushed for 561 yards and five touchdowns. Was tabbed as the Elite 11 MVP prior to his senior season. Also has a basketball background. Is the son of long-time NBA veteran guard Raja Bell. The level of improvement displayed throughout his junior season should be taken as an encouraging sign of his long-term upside.
Here’s Ian Boyd’s look at Bell from an early-August evaluation.
Bell is probably the official mark of Texas’ transformation, or maybe we should say Steve Sarkisian‘s transformation, into emphasizing dual-threat abilities at quarterback. That’s been the growing trend from pro-style coaches at every level. Like other pro-style prospects, Bell isn’t strictly a runner, he can move around to stretch the field vertically and has a very impressive arm he routinely uses to overpower coverage at the high school level. He has the passing traits you’d normally expect to see from a Sark quarterback prospect, but he also has wheels and can execute some gun-option to free up the tight ends and boost the run game, thus creating even more opportunities to take shots down the field.
Bell was one of the highest-ranked prospects in Texas’ No. 10 2026 recruiting class.
