Clemson NFL draft bio: Aaron Kelly

By Robert Rousseau  |   Wednesday, January 21, 2009  |  Comments( 3 )

Clemson Tigers
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Aaron Kelly, who pulled in a whopping 232 catches during his college career, is the Clemson Tigers' all-time leading receiver. He’s also 6-foot-5. That usually translates to being a very high NFL draft pick, particularly when you’re from a well-known program.

Still, he isn’t getting as much early draft love as one might think. Of course, there are reasons. But are they good ones? Are people not giving Kelly enough credit?

First, the stats.

Before Clemson: Kelly was a two-star receiver out of Walton High School in Marietta, Ga. Despite his relatively low recruiting profile, Duke, N.C. State and Wake Forest also showed significant interest in Kelly on the recruiting trail.

2005: Kelly caught 47 passes for 575 yards and two touchdowns as a redshirt freshman. His receptions yardage total was the ninth-most ever for an ACC freshman.

2006: Kelly hauled in 30 catches for 355 yards and three touchdowns as a sophomore.

2007: Kelly had a huge year catching passes from Cullen Harper, accumulating 88 receptions for 1,081 yards and 11 touchdowns on the season. In the end, he was named a first-team All-ACC performer and honorable mention All-American by CollegeFootballNews.com and Pro Football Weekly. Kelly led the ACC in receiving touchdowns and set the Clemson single-season record for scoring grabs.

2008: Kelly amassed 67 catches for 722 yards and four touchdowns, making him the ACC’s all-time receptions leader. In addition, Kelly became Clemson’s all-time leader in touchdown receptions.

The measurables: Kelly is very tall and has excellent hands. The knock on him is that he’s very thin, so many wonder if Kelly can deal with the rigors and physicality of the NFL.

His 4.58 speed is solid, but it's hardly spectacular by NFL standards. That said, Kelly's smart and runs good routes.

NFL draft prediction: Kelly has done the one thing that matters most: produced at a high level in college. Is he extremely fast? No. Does he run good enough routes to get open? Yes.

At times, Kelly has also shown the ability to break tackles in games and looked good in the bowl against Nebraska with six receptions and a touchdown, a time when he was on display for scouts. The bottom line is that he can catch the ball in traffic and has the potential to be a guy you can throw it up to in the end zone. That’s a sought-after commodity. Despite that, some have Kelly going as low as the sixth or seventh round.

Figure, though, that Kelly goes in Round 4 with a solid pre-draft showing. The NFL brass will figure that he’ll be able to put on some weight at the next level.
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About Robert Rousseau

Robert Rousseau is a sports writer that has been published in a variety of print and online venues. He’s been writing for RealFootball365.com for almost three years now. When Rousseau isn’t writing about college football he tends to be penning mixed martial arts pieces for MMAFighting.com or ...
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