To say Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly came out of nowhere is a bit harsh.

After all, prior to joining the Rebels, he was a four-star recruit coming out of St. Joseph School (N.Y.) before committing to Clemson’s 2012 class, and he is the nephew of Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly.

But to say there have been times in the past few years that it appeared he was on his way to going nowhere is probably fair.

Before even getting to Clemson, Kelly showed signs of immaturity. When Kelly was still a senior in high school, he used Twitter to call out then-backup quarterback for Clemson Cole Stoudt, who he would compete against for a starting job the following year.

“Your on the bench for a reason! And i come soon! Just letting you know,” Kelly wrote to Stoudt Jan. 26, 2012 from @ChadKelly_11.

He also released a ridiculous rap about himself that year, cleverly titled “Chad Kelly.”

Kelly ended up redshirting his first season at Clemson, but he came back the next year and was putting on a show in the Tigers’ 2013 spring game, completing six of his first seven passes for 43 yards and a touchdown. But then misfortune struck in the scrimmage and Kelly tore his ACL.

However, Kelly miraculously recovered in time to play in five games later that season. In 55 snaps, Kelly completed 10 of 17 passes for 58 yards. He added 117 rushing yards and one touchdown on the ground on just 16 carries.

That’s when people really started to realize that Kelly could eventually become one of college football’s best dual-threat passers, and he had aspirations of being Clemson’s starter the following season.

But then came another Clemson spring game, and yet again another incident threw a wrench into Kelly’s career.

Kelly had an outburst on the field during the scrimmage when the Tigers coaches sent out the punting unit instead of going for it on fourth-and-short. There were about 20,000 Clemson fans there, and they watched Kelly get into a verbal altercation with is coaches, showing the same signs of immaturity that he displayed before college.

When confronted about it a few days later by Clemson coach Dabo Swinney and offensive coordinator Chad Morris, Kelly lashed out again and was unwilling to accept the fact that Stoudt most likely would enter fall camp as the starter.

That was the last straw for Kelly at Clemson. Kelly was dismissed from the team, and he eventually found himself at East Mississippi Community College. He was able to stay out of trouble long enough there to win a Junior College National Championship in 2014 and earn himself a new beginning in Oxford this season.

But Kelly almost put his second chance in jeopardy before it ever got started with yet another poor decision.

A week after signing with the Rebels, Kelly was arrested in Buffalo, N.Y., after an altercation with a bouncer at a restaurant. Kelly reportedly threatened to get an assault rifle and “spray this place.” However, the charges against Kelly were eventually reduced to disorderly conduct with a punishment of 50 hours of community service as well as drug and alcohol evaluation.

Despite the mishap, Freeze decided to honor Kelly’s scholarship, and the quarterback hasn’t had any incidents since.

Kelly entered Ole Miss with two seasons of eligibility and is making the most of his first one.

Kelly has led the Rebels to a 7-3 record so far this season, including a marquee victory in Tuscaloosa against Alabama in Week 3. Kelly’s 3,224 passing yards are nearly 600 more yards than the next-closest quarterback in the SEC. His 23 touchdowns and 237 completions also lead the conference. He is completing 65.7 percent of his passes and has a quarterback rating of 155.0, which are both 2nd-best among SEC passers.