Former Vols running back John Kelly is officially a Los Angeles Ram and receiving the news overwhelms him to tears.
Majority of us average skilled human beings grow up dreaming of making it to the professional ranks someday. The sweat of shooting hoops in the dead heat of summer to playing quarterback and wide receiver in your made up Super Bowl in the front yard.
As children, we dream and dream big. For the ones of us lucky enough to play college ball that dream becomes even more of a reality. However, just because you’re only one step away does not mean it’s given to you.
Tennessee Volunteers Football
Tennessee football former running back John Kelly is the perfect example of a player that put in all the hard work his entire life to get to the NFL. The Vols were horrible last season, and I don’t have to go into a lot of detail but if the line is not forming holes up front than it is hard for the running back to gain yards.
Also if the wide receivers aren’t getting open then opposing defenses sell out to stop the run. That is what happened to the Vols last season, yet Kelly was able to put up decent numbers.
For the Vols last season, he rushed for 778 rushing yards on 189 rushing attempts for nine touchdowns. He also was a playmaker in the passing attack with 37 receptions for 299 yards.
There was no question Kelly had the talent for the NFL. As his name started to slip into the sixth round, I am sure he was worried, I mean anyone that has put that much time in effort would be.
But, in the sixth round with the 176th pick overall, John Kelly heard his name get called to the Los Angeles Rams. Below is the video of the phone call between the Rams organization and John Kelly.
“Remember I asked you if you could move from Detroit to LA?” - Coach Peete
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) April 28, 2018
Inside the call to @JKShuttlesworth 📲 #RamsDraft pic.twitter.com/bM2xGsgf1j
As you can see, Kelly is torn with emotions, and no one is blaming him. Full disclosure it made us want to cry as well.
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That is the kind of emotion you see when hard work pays off. There is no one rooting for Kelly more than Volnation is at the next level. We as well as the Rams feel like Kelly will do big things at the next level.