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Chad Kelly is the classic case of a talented athlete who can’t seem to get out of his own way.
After a phenomenal prep career, Kelly has been dismissed from one major program already and nearly lost his opportunity to return to the FBS level this December. He has likely run out of chances to walk the straight and narrow and faces a serious personal crossroads this season with the Ole Miss Rebels.
As the nephew of NFL Hall of Famer Jim Kelly, Chad Kelly enjoyed an illustrious prep career in upstate New York. He was a highly touted recruit who eventually signed on to play for the Clemson Tigers, likely sparking a little bit of grief from his Miami Hurricane alumni uncle. But before Kelly could make an impact for Clemson, his attitude and poor decision making landing him in hot water with the Tigers’ coaching staff.
In the race to replace Tajh Boyd at Clemson in the spring of 2014, Kelly was competing with Cole Stoudt and five-star freshman Deshaun Watson. When he got himself benched in the second half of the Clemson spring game and spent the rest of the afternoon yelling at coaches. It crossed a line that Dabo Swinney could not ignore and started the process of Kelly’s dismissal from the program for “detrimental conduct” as he got himself escorted out of the team’s facilities by campus police.
Kelly landed on his feet, as most talented football players do, by enrolling at East Mississippi Community College for the 2014 season. There, he showed what he could do when he got on the field, leading the Lions to a perfect 12-0 season while completing 67 percent of his passes for 3,905 yards with 47 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He added on 446 yards rushing and four scores on the ground just for good measure as EMCC went all the way to the NJCAA national title. In the championship game, Kelly put an exclamation point on his season, completing 40 of 53 passes for 434 yards and five touchdowns.
His performance on the field during 2014 opened up the door to allow him a chance to return to FBS football. He ultimately decided to transfer to the Ole Miss Rebels, who are looking for a successor to Bo Wallace in 2015, and announced his excitement to be headed to Oxford via his Twitter account. It was a second chance for Kelly to prove that he was the talent everyone expected him to be.
But it was a chance that he apparently didn’t truly appreciate. Almost as soon as he announced that he was going to be headed to Ole Miss, Kelly got himself arrested for getting into a fight at a downtown Buffalo restaurant and bar. According to reports, Kelly allegedly punched a bouncer after he was told to leave before allegedly scuffling with officers while being taken out of a pickup truck that police had stopped near the establishment.
He ended up pleading guilty to a non-criminal charge of disorderly conduct and agreed to 50 hours of community service. It was yet another strike against a player that was coming to Oxford with a ton of baggage and no shortage of red flags. Head coach Hugh Freeze would have been completely justified in turning Kelly away from his program and focusing on some prospects that came with less risk. Ultimately, Freeze stood by Kelly and welcomed him to the school last month, adding him to the mix of quarterbacks looking to secure the starting job during spring practice.
At the end of the day, adding a talent like Kelly was worth the risk for Freeze and the Rebels. Ole Miss looks to have one of the deepest receiving corps in the SEC next season, headlined by the return of junior-to-be Laquon Treadwell from injury. Finding a quarterback that can take advantage of that talent at the skill positions is a top priority for Ole Miss this offseason and Kelly adds some much-needed firepower to the competition.
He will be in a three-man race for the No. 1 job in 2015 with sophomores DeVante Kincade and Ryan Buchanan. Both players saw some spot-duty in 2014 behind Wallace and have the advantage of their experience in the system. Kincade completed 16 of 20 passes last season for 127 yards and a touchdown while using the added element of his athleticism to rush for 95 yards on 28 attempts with a touchdown. Buchanan completed 12 of 22 passes for 75 yards with no touchdowns and an interception.
Neither of them, however, were able to step up and separate themselves as the heir apparent to Wallace, which sent Freeze looking for another arm to add to this race. He found Kelly and will be looking for a way to channel his fiery potential into success on the field while avoiding trouble off of it. It’s yet another second chance for the talented, yet troubled, Kelly.
And at this point, it’s probably his last.
Eventually, being talented stops opening doors for you if you continue to act like a jerk. Kelly got himself booted off one football team already for his antics and nearly cost himself another opportunity at Ole Miss because he didn’t know when to walk away from a situation. If he focuses his ability and starts to deliver on his tremendous potential, Ole Miss could be in for a very special season. If he falls into his old habits, however, he’ll become just another cautionary tale of a first-round talent with a seventh-round mind.
So how is Kelly going to be remembered? Will he be just another punk kid who couldn’t get his head on straight and wasted a ton of potential? Or will he be a redemption story of a young man who bounced back from his mistakes to become something special? Can he find a way to become the hero in Oxford or will he always be remembered as the villain in Columbia?
That is the crossroads that Kelly finds himself at now as he looks to begin fresh at Ole Miss. Whichever direction he ends up going will have a huge impact on the Rebels’ fortunes in 2015.
You can follow Tyler Brett on Twitter @ATylerBrett, on Facebook and on Google.
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