Laremy Tunsil, Fahn Cooper dish on Chad Kelly's return to Ole Miss
The fruits of Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze’s labor on the recruiting trail are evident at the Scouting Combine this year, as there are six former Rebels currently under the microscope of the NFL community.
Four of them line up on the offensive side of the football, including a pair of no-brainer first-round picks in tackle Laremy Tunsil — he’s in the mix for No. 1 overall — and receiver Laquon Treadwell. Both Tunsil and Treadwell have company in Indy at their respective position group with the Rebs, as tackle Fahn Cooper and wideout Cody Core are also going through the dog-and-pony show for scouts, coaches and GMs.
Which begs the question: Why in the Sam Hill did quarterback Chad Kelly go back to school for his senior season? He’s losing his two best blockers and two best pass catchers, so why not join them in the league?
After flaming out at Clemson — a year in junior college did him well — Kelly came to Ole Miss and put together arguably the greatest single season in school history at the game’s most important position. The 6-foot-2, 215-pounder threw for 4,042 yards and 31 touchdowns through the air, and then he added an even 500 yards and 10 more TDs on the ground. He put a bow on the campaign with MVP honors in the Sugar Bowl.
While the 2016 draft is considered fairly deep at QB, there isn’t a clear-cut favorite on the board. There might have been an opportunity for Kelly to follow in the footsteps of his uncle, Hall of Famer Jim Kelly.
On-the-field ability isn’t a concern for Kelly. However, off-the-field behavior is. He didn’t last long at Clemson, as he reportedly clashed with the coaching staff. In April of 2014, he was kicked off the Tigers by coach Dabo Swinney for the proverbial “conduct detrimental to the team.” Later that year, the Buffalo native — his uncle is an icon there, of course — was arrested for fighting with bouncers outside a club.
The quick and easy path may have been to bail on college entirely and go to the pros after finally having some success. But he decided to stick with the Rebels, citing his need for more “learning and growing.”
“Swag Kelly, man, he just wanted to help the team out,” Tunsil said Wednesday. “Chad Kelly, he’s a great player. He’s a great guy. A lot of people have got to get to know him.”
Cooper echoed Tunsil’s comments Thursday. According to Cooper, Kelly still gets a bad rap for the guy he used to be, not the guy he’s become. Perhaps another season in Oxford can help him wipe the slate clean.
“I feel like there’s a lot of misconceptions about his character,” Cooper said. “One thing I will say, he was one of the hardest-working guys we had. This being the last season I played at Ole Miss, my fifth season, so I worked a lot harder than I ever had because when I left college, I wanted to leave no stone unturned. Whenever I came to do extra stuff, whether I came to stretch, watch film or whatever, he was always there.”
Still, who will protect the edge? Who will catch the pigskin? A program like Ole Miss doesn’t typically send multiple first-rounders to the NFL. Blue-chippers like Tunsil and Treadwell aren’t easy to replace.
“There’s some really good guys that are still there that people got a chance to see, but they just got to see it in flashes,” Cooper said. “I feel like this year, a lot of other guys will get to stand out.”
Freeze put together another spectacular recruiting class earlier this month. The Rebels are losing a lot of talent, but the cupboards are anything but bare. This is Kelly’s team now, and he’s aiming sky high.
“He won the Sugar Bowl, and it was a big deal,” Cooper said. “But I know Chad Kelly has much bigger goals than the stuff he accomplished last year.”
For what it’s worth, ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. feels that Kelly made the right decision. Nobody knows the ins and outs of the evaluation process better than him, as that’s all he does round the clock.
“I think he would be in that second tier (of quarterbacks),” Kiper told Saturday Down South, “a mid- to late-round guy who could go either way based on the workouts. But he was wise to return to school. There’s room to improve.”