Cole Kelley

Last updated

Cole Kelley
Personal information
Born: (1997-10-27) October 27, 1997 (age 27)
Lafayette, Louisiana, U.S.
Height:6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight:250 lb (113 kg)
Career information
High school: Teurlings Catholic (Lafayette)
College:
Position: Quarterback
NFL draft: 2022: undrafted
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Cole Kelley (born October 27, 1997) is an American professional football quarterback. He played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and Southeastern Louisiana Lions. Kelley signed with the Washington Commanders as an undrafted free agent in 2022 but was released prior to the season.

Contents

College career

Kelley played football and basketball at Teurlings Catholic High School in Lafayette, Louisiana. He joined the University of Arkansas as a four-star recruit in 2016. He started four games as a redshirt freshman in 2017 and two games the following year before transferring to Southeastern Louisiana University in 2019.

2020 season

Kelley won the Walter Payton Award for the 2020–21 FCS season, given to the top offensive player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). [1] He threw for 2,662 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2020. Among these games, he threw for more than 300 yards in every game. He received first-team All-American FCS honors in both 2020 and 2021. [2] [3]

2021 season

The 2021 season was the best year for Kelley. He threw for 5,124 yards, 44 touchdowns, and ran for 491 yards and 16 more touchdowns. Among those games was a 647 yard game in a loss at UIW, where he also had 68 attempts. He has a 285.0 passer rating in a game against Northwestern State, which would count as a perfect passer rating for NFL standards. [4] Because of his exceptional performance that year, he was invited to the January 2022 edition of the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and was named the game MVP. [5]

College statistics
SeasonPassingRushing
CompAttYdsPctTDIntRtgAttYdsAvgTD
Arkansas Razorbacks
2017 871511,03857.684127.553741.42
2018 356745552.255119.028732.63
Southeastern Louisiana Lions
2019 699381074.2102178.5892002.210
2020 2103052,66268.9184159.076460.67
2021 4065525,12473.64410174.21616643.016
Career8071,16810,08969.18525151.84071,0572.638

Professional career

Pre-draft measurables
HeightWeightArm lengthHand span 40-yard dash 10-yard split20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill
6 ft 7+38 in
(2.02 m)
249 lb
(113 kg)
33+34 in
(0.86 m)
9+78 in
(0.25 m)
5.14 s1.70 s3.00 s4.98 s8.00 s
Sources: [6] [7]

Washington Commanders

Kelley signed with the Washington Commanders as an undrafted free agent on May 2, 2022, but was released on August 7, 2022. [8] [9]

Memphis Showboats

On January 28, 2023, Kelley signed with the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League (USFL). [10] He was released on March 12, 2024. [11]

References

  1. "Southeastern's Cole Kelley Wins Stats Perform FCS Walter Payton Award". Southeastern Louisiana University Athletics. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  2. "2020-21 Stats Perform FCS All-America Team announced". NCAA. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  3. "2021 AP FCS All-America team". AP News. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  4. "Cole Kelley 2021 Stats per Game - NCAAF". ESPN. Retrieved June 2, 2025.
  5. "About the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl". nflpa.com. Archived from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  6. "Cole Kelley Draft and Combine Prospect Profile". NFL.com. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  7. "Cole Kelley, Southeastern Louisiana, QB, 2022 NFL Draft Scout, NCAA College Football". draftscout.com. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  8. "Washington Commanders announce list of undrafted free agents". Commanders.com. May 2, 2022. Archived from the original on May 2, 2022. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  9. "Commanders sign LB Nathan Gerry, S Steven Parker, TE Eli Wolf amid multiple roster moves". Commanders.com. August 7, 2022.
  10. @USFLShowboats (January 28, 2023). "Free Agent Signing" (Tweet). Retrieved January 28, 2023 via Twitter.
  11. @UFL_PR (March 12, 2024). "The United Football League has announced the following transactions:" (Tweet). Retrieved March 12, 2024 via Twitter.