Michigan football WR Ronnie Bell drafted by San Francisco 49ers in seventh round of NFL draft

The run on Michigan football players continued when Ronnie Bell was taken No 253 overall by the San Francisco 49ers in the seventh round of the NFL draft.

He is the first offensive skill player selected from Jim Harbaugh's program in 2023.

"The biggest thing is just being valuable, being able to produce wherever you are on the field," Bell said last month after his pro day in Ann Arbor. "My job is to put myself in the best position possible and give it my all and that's all I'm going to do."

He becomes just the fifth wide receiver drafted in the Harbaugh era; joining Nico Collins in 2021 (third round, Houston Texans), Donovan Peoples-Jones in 2020 (sixth round, Cleveland Browns), Amara Darboh in 2017 (third round, Seattle Seahawks) and Jehu Chesson in 2017 (fourth round, Kansas City Chiefs).

Bell emerged as U-M's leader in the pass catching room in 2022 as he finished with 62 receptions for 889 yards (14.3 yards per catch) and five total touchdowns in 14 games as he was named to the All Big Ten third team.

He had just one receiving touchdown before Nov. 12 but finished with three touchdowns in his final five games.

That late-season emergence included a standout postseason, when he had five catches for 67 yards and a touchdown in the Big Ten championship game win over Purdue and then six catches for a season-high 135 yards and a score in the season-ending Fiesta Bowl loss to TCU.

Bell was in tears, as were most U-M players, following that game, but he had a chance to offer some perspective after a few months had passed.

"Where we left the program on such a high note, it's something you take a lot of pride in," Bell said of what he will remember most about his career." The build from where we were to where we left it I think is what really sticks with you the most."

His breakout season was supposed to happen the year before, when he was elected captain in 2021, but shortly after he caught a 76-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter of the season-opener, he suffered a torn ACL on a punt return and missed the entire year.

A three-star product out of Kansas City (Park Hill), Bell appeared in 47 games (31 starts) and scored at least one touchdown in all five seasons as he finished his career with 145 catches for 2,269 yards and nine touchdowns.