Kenny Kelly Ready for Spotlight
Aug. 25, 1999
CORAL GABLES, Fla.(AP) – Miami Hurricanes quarterback Kenny Kelly wore sandals, gym shorts and a wrinkled polo shirt Tuesday at a news conference to discuss his team’s season opener.
“Sorry about the way I look,” he said.
No one complained. The concern in Miami is how Kelly looks Sunday against ninth-ranked Ohio State in the Kickoff Classic.
The start will be the first for Kelly, the Hurricanes’ most highly-touted quarterback since Gino Torretta won the Heisman Trophy in 1992.
“I haven’t started since high school, and this is a whole new ballgame,” said Kelly, a third-year sophomore. “Once I get those first couple of snaps out of the way, I think I’ll get the butterflies out of my stomach.”
Expectations for Kelly have been high ever since he signed with the Hurricanes in 1997 after throwing for 7,949 yards and 75 touchdowns at Tampa Catholic High School. He played well last year as a backup to Scott Covington, completing 23 of 42 passes for 433 yards and five touchdowns.
Kelly, 20, was pleased to see that Ohio State’s quarterback will be another third-year sophomore, Austin Moherman, who has thrown just one collegiate pass.
“When I read that in the paper, it made me feel a whole lot better,” Kelly said. “If I was going against a fourth-year starter in my first start, that would be a little bit more pressure. I feel a lot better knowing the guy on the other side doesn’t have as much experience as I do.”
But most of Kelly’s experience came against the likes of Temple, Rutgers and East Tennessee State. Ohio State is different.
“Sometimes first-time starters at quarterback go out and think they have to be absolutely perfect, and it can affect their performance,” Miami coach Butch Davis said. “But Kenny recognizes he has a supporting cast. He has to rely on those guys to make plays around him.”
Miami’s cast may be the best in Davis’ five seasons as coach. The Hurricanes are ranked 12th and return 17 starters from last year’s 9-3 team.
That doesn’t include Kelly, who gives the team a triggerman in the tradition of Torretta, Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testaverde, Craig Erickson and Jim Kelly (no relation).
Even if Kenny Kelly excels, he’s not necessarily destined to follow his esteemed predecessors to the NFL. Kelly, a second-round draft choice in baseball two years ago, has spent the past three summers playing the outfield in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ minor league system.
Although baseball has forced Kelly to miss summer football workouts, his experience in the minors could prove helpful against the Buckeyes, Davis said.
“Whatever perceived negatives there might be with the baseball thing, one positive is this kid has played for money,” Davis said. “He’s gone into games where he’s playing for a living against 24-year-old professional athletes, and there’s a little carryover. He has played in games more meaningful than the Orange and White scrimmage.”
