« Football 2014

Taylor Kelly

School
Arizona State
Position
Quarterback
Major
Educational Studies

Classroom

Kelly graduated with a Bachelor’s of Art degree in Educational Studies in May 2014 and is currently enrolled in a Master’s of Legal Studies program focusing on Sports Law and Business. The program combines classes from two of the most prestigious colleges in the nation, the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and the W.P. Carey School of Business. He secured a 3.31 cumulative undergraduate GPA and is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honoree, including a second team member in 2013.

Character

Kelly is a team captain for the second consecutive season and is a very active member of the university and the Phoenix Valley. He always stays late to take photos with children and sign autographs, and has even befriended a number of the team’s fans. The team had the day off on the first day of classes, so Taylor spent it delivering season tickets to a sixth-grade teacher and a local couple, including a husband who had just had surgery.

“He is the consummate leader, on the field, in the classroom and around the community. He is not only one of the best players I’ve ever coached, but he is the greatest young person I have had the chance to be around. He is a great ambassador for our program and for our university.” – head coach Todd Graham

Community

Kelly was nominated to the 2014 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®, which represents the sport’s finest in the areas of volunteerism and leadership. The award recognizes players whose charitable involvement and community service contributions stand out among all other student-athletes participating in the sport. Kelly is heavily involved in the Scholar Baller leadership and outreach program, where he helps develop curriculum, deliver, teach and mentor students at South Mountain High School, Academy of Excellence and Cesar Chavez High School. He teaches them about developing championship character, creating a strong sense of self and becoming a great leader, among other things. He has been instrumental in influencing his teammates and other student-athletes to become more involved in the community and routinely leads a contingent of student-athletes in community service and outreach events.

Competition

Kelly enters the season with the second most career starts for a quarterback in the Pac-12 at 27 and is just the second Sun Devil in school history to have multiple seasons with 3,000-plus passing yards. He earned Second Team All-Pac-12 honors in 2013 after he threw for 3,635 yards, the third most in a single season in school history, and moved into the top five on seven single-season school record lists, including passing yards, completions, total offense and points responsible for, among others. He threw for 28 touchdowns in 2013 and has tossed 57 touchdowns over the past two seasons, the most for any Sun Devil quarterback in a two-game span. He also set the school record for completion percentage (67.1 percent, 241-359), and led ASU to eclipsing 50 points six times, breaking the school record held by the 1973 team. Kelly can also use his legs as a dual-threat quarterback. He had 826 rushing yards on 134 attempts (6.2 ypc) and was on fire in the last nine games of 2013 with nine rushing touchdowns, and he was second on the team with 43 rushes for first down. He was selected to the Walter Camp Football Foundation, Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Award Watch Lists in 2014, and was named to numerous preseason all-conference and All-America teams.