Kelly showed that when he was filling in in games last year. And in Bob Shoop’s new defensive system, he showed it early on by quickly setting the tone.
On the first drive, Joshua Dobbs had a pass bounce right off of Jason Croom’s chest and Kelly dove to come down with the interception. It was very reminiscent of what he did last year against the Oklahoma Sooners, and he is showing himself to be similar to Ed Reed with his uncanny ability as a safety to always be in the right place at the right time.
Kelly showed it all as a physical safety as well.
On a later drive, he came up and stuffed John Kelly for a one-yard loss on a running play, giving him an interception and a tackle for a loss in this game.
He had three solo tackles overall in the game, and Jones and Shoop wisely did not use him as much later on given the fact that he is one player who they cannot afford to have injured in the Fall.
The athleticism, intelligence, and physical play of this legacy Vol is getting more and more exciting by the day. He showed by a hint Saturday of what he should be able to do with a full season to himself as the full-time starter.
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2
Todd Kelly
Defensive Back, Junior
This is one of those easy predictions where the new starter filling a void is sure to be as good as or better than the player he replaced. Thanks to Todd Kelly Jr., the departure of both LaDarrell McNeil and Brian Randolph is able to be offset to a certain degree.
Kelly showed that when he was filling in in games last year. And in Bob Shoop’s new defensive system, he showed it early on by quickly setting the tone.
On the first drive, Joshua Dobbs had a pass bounce right off of Jason Croom’s chest and Kelly dove to come down with the interception. It was very reminiscent of what he did last year against the Oklahoma Sooners, and he is showing himself to be similar to Ed Reed with his uncanny ability as a safety to always be in the right place at the right time.
Kelly showed it all as a physical safety as well.
On a later drive, he came up and stuffed John Kelly for a one-yard loss on a running play, giving him an interception and a tackle for a loss in this game.
He had three solo tackles overall in the game, and Jones and Shoop wisely did not use him as much later on given the fact that he is one player who they cannot afford to have injured in the Fall.
The athleticism, intelligence, and physical play of this legacy Vol is getting more and more exciting by the day. He showed by a hint Saturday of what he should be able to do with a full season to himself as the full-time starter.
Next: #1: Quart'e Sapp