Kevin Patrick Kelly (born August 1, 1987) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

and is the all-time leading scorer in Big Ten football history.

College career

Kevin Kelly was lightly recruited coming out of Neshaminy High School. He accepted a scholarship offer from Penn State over the Syracuse Orange and

Delaware Blue Hens The Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens are the athletic teams of the University of Delaware of Newark, Delaware, in the United States. The Blue Hens compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of Division I of the National Collegiate Athlet ...

. Kelly claimed the starting placekicker position during pre-season training and became the first Penn State true freshman since Craig Fayak to start the season opener in their game against the South Florida Bulls. Kelly would go on to break Fayak's freshman scoring record. In the final game of the season, Kelly kicked the game-winning 29-yard

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

in the

2006 Orange Bowl The 2006 Orange Bowl, a 2005–06 BCS game, was played on January 3, 2006. This 72nd edition to the Orange Bowl featured the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Florida State Seminoles. This game was known for being the eighth, and ultimately fina ...

against the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivis ...

. He finished his freshman year with 16 field goals made on 23 attempts. Kevin Kelly's second season at Penn State ended with him earning a place on the Academic All-Big Ten team. He made 22 of 34 field goals and was perfect on 30 extra point attempts. He kicked two career-long field goals of 49 yards, as well as two field goals against the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity college athletics, intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in NCAA Division I, ...

in the

2007 Outback Bowl The 2007 Outback Bowl Game was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2007, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. It was part of the 2006–2007 bowl game season that concluded the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. This ...

. Kelly became Penn State's all-time leading scorer on November 10, 2007 against the

Temple Owls The Temple Owls are the athletic teams that represent Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current athletic director is Arthur Johnson. The owl has been the symbol and mascot for Temple University since its founding in the 18 ...

at Lincoln Financial Field in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. He scored his first career touchdown against

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

on a fake field goal, taking a direct snap from the center and running into the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...

. Kelly began the 2008 season on the Lou Groza Award watchlist. His 17-point performance (four field goals and five PATs) in Penn State's 46–17 win versus

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

earned him

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Specialist of the Week honors and pushed his career scoring total to 376 points, making him the Big Ten's all-time kick scoring leader. He broke the previous mark of 367 points held by

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

's Dan Nystrom and

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

's Nate Kaeding. At season's end, he was named a consensus first team All-Big Ten selection and recipient of a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award for the 2008–09 academic year.

Professional career

Kelly joined the Harrisburg Stampede of the

American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

in 2010. After teaching physical education for 2 years, Kelly took a sales position at the Philadelphia-based meeting and event center, The Hub.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Kevin 1987 births Living people American football placekickers Penn State Nittany Lions football players Players of American football from Pennsylvania Harrisburg Stampede players