Aaron Kelly Rewrote Record Books After Arriving at Clemson Relatively Unknown
When Aaron Kelly arrived at Clemson, he was a relatively unknown wideout from Marietta, Georgia. By the time he left, he had rewritten record books.
Coming out of high school, Kelly wasn't one of the more highly touted prospects. However, the recruiting process back then was quite different than what it is today. It was much more difficult for players to get noticed, especially for someone like Kelly, who considered himself a late bloomer.
"I was I guess what you consider like a late bloomer," Kelly recently told All Clemson. "I didn't play a lot my sophomore, junior year, I mean I played a little bit, and then I had a really good senior year."
For players coming out of high school back then, it was much harder for them to get their names out. Kelly said one of the biggest game-changers has been the way potential prospects can now use social media to their advantage.
"I think it's a big difference," Kelly said. "I think the whole social media aspect, it's really changed recruiting and how kind of teams go after it. Now they have Hudl and stuff like that, where I think it's a lot easier to kind of get your film to coaches. It's definitely changed the whole recruiting aspect. The seven on seven and all that stuff, it's all totally different from when I was getting recruited."
Kelly's big senior year in high school netted him several offers. The more notable ones came from Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Duke and Clemson, with Georgia and NC State trying to get in late. Coming from a high school that relied heavily on the running game, Kelly was looking for something different at the next level.
"I was like 'I'm a receiver man I want to go somewhere that's gonna throw the ball,'" Kelly said. "I didn't want to go back to kind of what I was dealing with in high school, not really throwing the ball. I wanted a school that kind of airs it out. I'm looking at stats and you got a guy who's got 70 catches, 60 catches, 50 catches, 40. I'm looking at all these guys getting the ball and I loved the style of offense and then obviously you know what Death Valley is all about, so that's why I chose Clemson."
Kelly was considered a low three-star prospect coming out of high school. However, at the time, he admittedly didn't fully understand the recruiting process and paid so little attention to it that he had no idea where he was ranked.
"Not until I got to school because I didn't really understand recruiting," Kelly said. "I didn't really fully understand it until I actually got on campus and people were saying five-star, four-star; I didn't even know what I was. I said 'do I even have any stars?'
After he arrived on campus, Kelly was determined to prove that he belonged, regardless of where any recruiting service had him ranked.
"I was like you know I'm as good as anyone. I don't mind competition, I don't back down, I think I'm as good as anyone. Some of the guys were kind of puffing their chest out about being these different star levels and I was like I can compete with anyone. So at the beginning, once I kind of got on campus, it did kind of motivate me to show that I belong."
After redshirting in 2004, Kelly burst onto the scene in 2005, ending the season second on the team in receptions (47) and receiving yards (575). His 47 catches were second-most in Clemson history for a freshman, while his reception yards were just 110 yards short of the Clemson record at the time.
In 2007, as a redshirt junior, Kelly had his most productive season, hauling in 88 catches for 1,081 yards and 11 touchdowns, earning him first-team All-ACC honors. At the time, his 88 receptions were a school record for a single season.
Kelly would leave Clemson as the ACC's all-time leader in receptions (232) and go on to register more than 100 catches and more than 1,300 yards playing in the CFL. An experience the former collegiate star wouldn't trade for anything.
"Never thought I'd ever go to Canada," Kelly said. "Growing up here in the south, when people say Canada, I just think of one big thing, you know, I didn't even know how it was separated. I mean in school they don't teach us about Canada. I went to Niagara Falls when I was young and that's about the extent I knew about Canada. But really nice people and at the end of the day it was football and I was happy that I was able to continue to play."
