Steve Sarkisian and AJ Milwee always aim high when it comes to quarterbacks. Their efforts in the 2026 class have been strongly rewarded. Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) American Heritage quarterback and On3 Industry Ranking four-star Dia Bell committed to Texas on Monday.
[Sign up for Inside Texas and get ONE MONTH for $1!]
Bell chose Texas over 35-plus offers including Wisconsin, West Virginia, Washington, Arizona, Arkansas, Auburn, BYU, Colorado, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, Utah, Tennessee, Syracuse, TCU, Florida, Florida State, Houston, Louisville, Indiana, SMU, Purdue, Pitt, Penn State, Oregon, Ole Miss, Ohio State, North Carolina, Mississippi State, Nebraska, LSU, and Miami.
Bell committed after his camp visit to Austin for the Texas Longhorns’ June 1 elite camp. He was one of three high school prospects Sarkisian and Milwee have offered in the 2026 class along with Nashville (Tenn.) Christian School’s five-star Jared Curtis and Mission Hills (Calif.) four-star Troy Huhn.
Bell has passed for over 2300 yards in his career and has a 65% completion percentage. During his sophomore year, he was 122-for-189 with 1929 yards and 20 touchdowns over four interceptions. As a freshman in 2022, he completed 13-of-21 passes for 317 yards and four touchdowns over two interceptions.
Bell played in four games on varsity as an eighth-grader, completing 9-of-12 passes for 73 yards.
Bell is the son of 12-year NBA veteran Raja Bell, who spent his career with Phoenix, Utah, Philadelphia, Dallas, Charlotte, and Golden State.
Dia Bell joins a quarterback pipeline that currently has 2025 Saraland (Ala.) four-star K.J. Lacey committed. 2024 prospect Trey Owens enrolled early and was a part of the team during the spring. Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning are the other extremely notable scholarship quarterbacks within the Longhorn quarterback position group.
How he fits at Texas
Dia Bell is another passer in the mold of KJ Lacey who has the athleticism and comfort to run the football and get out of the pocket in order to make things happen, but is actually a fairly conventional passing prospect. Bell has a strong arm and is doing most of his work from the pocket, reading safeties and flinging the ball down the field. The number of real reads he makes within a good window of time on his sophomore film is pretty impressive. Bell has a good arm for throwing the ball down the field and is absolutely a good prospect for Sarkisian’s RPO and play-action intensive offense but he could be a NFL prospect down the line for his ability to see the field and make accurate throws in the progression game. – Ian Boyd
[Subscribe to the Inside Texas YouTube channel!]
Bell is ranked as the No. 14 overall prospect, the No. 4 quarterback, and the No. 2 player in Florida in the 2026 On3 Industry Ranking, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services.
On3 ranks him as the No. 14 overall prospect, the No. 2 quarterback, and the No. 1 player in Florida.
The post 2026 quarterback Dia Bell commits to the Texas Longhorns appeared first on On3.