Cole Kelley (born October 27, 1997) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville. The University of Arkans ...

and

Southeastern Louisiana Lions The Southeastern Louisiana Lions and Lady Lions are composed of 14 teams representing Southeastern Louisiana University in intercollegiate athletics, competing in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are members of the ...

. Kelley signed with the

Washington Commanders The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2022 but was released prior to the season.

College career

Kelley played football and basketball at Teurlings Catholic High School in

Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette ( , ) is the most populous city in and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, Lafayette Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located along the Vermilion River (Louisiana), Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's List of municipaliti ...

. He joined the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

as a four-star recruit in 2016. He started four games as a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

freshman in 2017 and two games the following year before transferring to

Southeastern Louisiana University Southeastern Louisiana University (Southeastern) is a public university in Hammond, Louisiana. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims as Hammond Junior College. Sims succeeded in getting the campus moved to north Hammond in 1928, when it beca ...

in 2019.

2020 season

Kelley won the

Walter Payton Award The Walter Payton Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) of college football as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports ...

for the 2020–21 FCS season, given to the top offensive player in the

NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Sponsored by the National Collegiate ...

(FCS). 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.

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. Because of his exceptional performance that year, he was invited to the January 2022 edition of the

NFLPA Collegiate Bowl The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl was a postseason college football all-star game for National Football League Draft-eligible players, held annually in January. The event was founded in 2012 by the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). In ...

and was named the game MVP.

Professional career

Washington Commanders

Kelley signed with the

as an

on May 2, 2022, but was released on August 7, 2022.

Memphis Showboats

On January 28, 2023, Kelley signed with the

Memphis Showboats The Memphis Showboats were an American football franchise in the United States Football League. They entered the league in its expansion in 1984 and made the 1985 playoffs, losing in the semifinal round to the Oakland Invaders. Perhaps the ...

of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL). He was released on March 12, 2024.

References

External links

*
Southeastern Louisiana Lions profile

Arkansas Razorbacks profile
1997 births Living people Players of American football from Lafayette, Louisiana American football quarterbacks Arkansas Razorbacks football players Southeastern Louisiana Lions football players Washington Commanders players Memphis Showboats (2022) players Walter Payton Award winners {{Quarterback-1990s-stub