Andy Kelly
Encyclopedia
Andy Kelly is a former American football
quarterback
in the Arena Football League. He played in the AFL for fifteen seasons. He also played for two seasons for the Rhein Fire
of the former World League of American Football
.
High School in Evensville, Tennessee. While attending, he won Gatorade
All-America
honors in football
as a senior.
quarterback at the University of Tennessee
from 1988-1991. He took over as a starter
for Sterling Henton in the 1989 SEC
game against the Alabama
Crimson Tide
. He set numerous Tennessee and SEC passing records, most of them broken by his later successor at Tennessee, Peyton Manning
. He was also drafted to play baseball
with the Atlanta Braves
, but never actually did so.
(1993, 1995–96), Nashville Kats
(1997–2001), Dallas Desperados
(2002), Detroit Fury
(2003–2004), Kansas City Brigade
(2006) and Utah Blaze
(2006). At the end of the 2006 season, he held several all-time AFL career records, including touchdown passes (767), passing yards (39,948), pass attempts (5,827), pass completions (3,621), and interceptions (155).
On Friday, April 27, 2007, in a 72-57 home loss to division-mate Georgia
, Kelly joined Aaron Garcia, Clint Dolezel
, and Sherdrick Bonner
as the only quarterbacks in football history to throw 800 career touchdowns.
On December 6, 2007, Kelly was named the head coach of the proposed new All American Football League's
Tennessee team. The league suspended operations March 12, 2008 (permanently, as things later developed, although only a delay was announced at the time), and Kelly signed with the Georgia Force two weeks later on March 26, 2008, but never participated as an active player for the Force. Kelly retired as an Arena Football player following the 2008 season and currently serves as a commentator on Tennessee Volunteers football radio broadcasts.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
in the Arena Football League. He played in the AFL for fifteen seasons. He also played for two seasons for the Rhein Fire
Rhein Fire
The Rhein Fire was a professional American football team in NFL Europe, formerly the World League of American Football. Established in Germany in 1995, the franchise resurrected the name of the former Birmingham Fire team which was active during the 1991-1992 WLAF seasons.-History:The team was...
of the former World League of American Football
World League of American Football
The World League of American Football was founded in 1990 with support from the National Football League to play professional American football in North America, Europe and later possibly Asia...
.
High school career
Kelly attended Rhea CountyRhea County, Tennessee
Rhea County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 28,400. Its county seat is Dayton.-Geography:According to the U.S...
High School in Evensville, Tennessee. While attending, he won Gatorade
Gatorade
Gatorade is a brand of sports-themed food and beverage products, built around its signature product: a line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo, distributed in over 80 countries...
All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
honors in football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....
as a senior.
College career
Kelly was a successful collegiateCollege football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
quarterback at the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
from 1988-1991. He took over as a starter
Starting lineup
A starting lineup in sports is an official list of the set of players who will actively participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as starters, whereas the others are substitutes or bench players.The starters are commonly the best...
for Sterling Henton in the 1989 SEC
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
game against the Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
Crimson Tide
Crimson Tide
Crimson Tide may refer to:* Crimson tide, a type of algae also known as Karenia brevis* Alabama Crimson Tide, the sports teams of the University of Alabama* Crimson Tide , a 1995 American thriller...
. He set numerous Tennessee and SEC passing records, most of them broken by his later successor at Tennessee, Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning
Peyton Williams Manning is an American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League . Manning holds the record for most NFL MVP awards with four. He was drafted by the Colts as the first overall pick in 1998 after a standout college football career with the...
. He was also drafted to play baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
with the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
, but never actually did so.
Professional career
Kelly's predominant professional football career was as an Arena Football League quarterback playing some of his career with the with the New Orleans VooDoo, for whom he played for in 2005 and 2007. He previously played for the Charlotte RageCharlotte Rage
The Charlotte Rage was a team in the Arena Football League.-History:They competed in the 1992-1996 seasons. They played their home games at the Charlotte Coliseum, then also home of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association....
(1993, 1995–96), Nashville Kats
Nashville Kats
The Nashville Kats were an Arena Football League team, located in Nashville, Tennessee. They were last coached by Pat Sperduto, who coached the team's original incarnation to two ArenaBowl appearances prior to the original franchise's move to Atlanta in 2002...
(1997–2001), Dallas Desperados
Dallas Desperados
The Dallas Desperados were a professional Arena Football team. The Desperados played in the Southern Division of the now-defunct Arena Football League from 2002 to 2008....
(2002), Detroit Fury
Detroit Fury
The Detroit Fury were an Arena Football League team. The team began play in 2001 and was based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at The Palace of Auburn Hills, also the home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons. The team was co-owned by William Davidson, who owned the Pistons, along with...
(2003–2004), Kansas City Brigade
Kansas City Brigade
The Kansas City Command is a professional arena football team in the Arena Football League. The team was founded before the 2006 season. Former Kansas City Chiefs Strong safety Kevin Porter served as head coach...
(2006) and Utah Blaze
Utah Blaze
The Utah Blaze is a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competes in the West division of the Arena Football League. Home games are played at the EnergySolutions Arena.-The original Utah Blaze :...
(2006). At the end of the 2006 season, he held several all-time AFL career records, including touchdown passes (767), passing yards (39,948), pass attempts (5,827), pass completions (3,621), and interceptions (155).
On Friday, April 27, 2007, in a 72-57 home loss to division-mate Georgia
Georgia Force
The Georgia Force are an Arena Football League team based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States that plays in the South Division of the American Conference. The team is owned by Doug MacGregor and Donn Jennings...
, Kelly joined Aaron Garcia, Clint Dolezel
Clint Dolezel
Clint Dolezel is Offensive Coordinator of the Philadelphia Soul, an Indoor Football team belonging to the Arena Football League . As an AFL player, he was originally signed by the Milwaukee Mustangs...
, and Sherdrick Bonner
Sherdrick Bonner
Sherdrick Bonner is a former Arena football quarterback who is currently the offensive coordinator of the Chicago Rush in the Arena Football League.-High school years:...
as the only quarterbacks in football history to throw 800 career touchdowns.
On December 6, 2007, Kelly was named the head coach of the proposed new All American Football League's
All American Football League
The All American Football League was a proposed professional American football league. The league, which was to combine a professional pay structure with the requirement that all players be college graduates, had originally been scheduled to start in the spring of 2007, but later postponed its...
Tennessee team. The league suspended operations March 12, 2008 (permanently, as things later developed, although only a delay was announced at the time), and Kelly signed with the Georgia Force two weeks later on March 26, 2008, but never participated as an active player for the Force. Kelly retired as an Arena Football player following the 2008 season and currently serves as a commentator on Tennessee Volunteers football radio broadcasts.
Statistics
| Year | Comp. | Att. | Comp% | Yards | TD's | INT's | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 1993 Arena Football League season The 1993 Arena Football League season was the 7th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Tampa Bay Storm, who defeated the Detroit Drive in ArenaBowl VII... |
178 | 332 | 53.6 | 2139 | 34 | 15 | 80.3 |
| 1995 1995 Arena Football League season The 1995 Arena Football League season was the 9th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Tampa Bay Storm, who defeated the Orlando Predators in ArenaBowl IX. The AFL re-aligned its divisions for the 3rd straight year. It re-aligned to two divisions per conference... |
95 | 166 | 57.2 | 1004 | 16 | 8 | 78.9 |
| 1996 1996 Arena Football League season The 1996 Arena Football League season was the 10th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Tampa Bay Storm, who defeated the Iowa Barnstormers in ArenaBowl X. The AFL finally stabilized its scheduled number of games. It expanded to a 14-game season, which would remain... |
58 | 94 | 61.7 | 671 | 8 | 1 | 100 |
| 1997 1997 Arena Football League season The 1997 Arena Football League season was the 11th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Arizona Rattlers, who defeated the Iowa Barnstormers in ArenaBowl XI.-Standings:* Green indicates clinched playoff berth... |
309 | 497 | 62.2 | 3821 | 82 | 14 | 113.7 |
| 1998 1998 Arena Football League season The 1998 Arena Football League season was the 12th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Orlando Predators, who defeated the Tampa Bay Storm in ArenaBowl XII.-Standings:* Green indicates clinched playoff berth... |
315 | 518 | 60.8 | 3537 | 73 | 12 | 106.7 |
| 1999 1999 Arena Football League season The 1999 Arena Football League season was the 13th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Albany Firebirds, who defeated the Orlando Predators in ArenaBowl XIII.-Standings:* Green indicates clinched playoff berth... |
324 | 501 | 64.7 | 3609 | 67 | 11 | 110.2 |
| 2000 2000 Arena Football League season The 2000 Arena Football League season was the 14th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Orlando Predators, who defeated the Nashville Kats in ArenaBowl XIV.-Standings:* Green indicates clinched playoff berth... |
283 | 429 | 66 | 3107 | 55 | 10 | 109.5 |
| 2001 2001 Arena Football League season The 2001 Arena Football League season was the 15th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Grand Rapids Rampage, who defeated the Nashville Kats in ArenaBowl XV.-Standings:* Green indicates clinched playoff berth... |
230 | 382 | 60.2 | 2699 | 47 | 7 | 104.8 |
| 2002 2002 Arena Football League season The 2002 Arena Football League season was the 16th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the San Jose SaberCats, who defeated the Arizona Rattlers in ArenaBowl XVI... |
319 | 511 | 62.4 | 3295 | 73 | 16 | 105.4 |
| 2003 2003 Arena Football League season The 2003 Arena Football League season was the 17th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Tampa Bay Storm, who defeated the Arizona Rattlers in ArenaBowl XVII. The AFL expanded its season to a 16-game schedule... |
392 | 654 | 59.9 | 3967 | 92 | 20 | 99.7 |
| 2004 2004 Arena Football League season The 2004 Arena Football League season was the 18th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the San Jose SaberCats, who defeated the Arizona Rattlers in ArenaBowl XVIII... |
360 | 587 | 61.3 | 4184 | 73 | 12 | 105.4 |
| 2005 2005 Arena Football League season The 2005 Arena Football League season was the 19th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Colorado Crush, who defeated the Georgia Force in ArenaBowl XIX. The AFL changed its playoff format to allow the top four teams per conference to make the playoffs. Previously, the... |
466 | 700 | 66.6 | 4657 | 96 | 12 | 112.4 |
| 2006 (Utah Blaze) 2006 Arena Football League season The 2006 Arena Football League season was the 20th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Chicago Rush, who defeated the Orlando Predators in ArenaBowl XX.... |
115 | 162 | 71 | 1402 | 27 | 4 | 126.5 |
| 2006 (Kansas City Brigade) 2006 Arena Football League season The 2006 Arena Football League season was the 20th season of the Arena Football League. The league champions were the Chicago Rush, who defeated the Orlando Predators in ArenaBowl XX.... |
177 | 294 | 60.2 | 1856 | 24 | 13 | 80.5 |
| 2007 2007 Arena Football League season The 2007 Arena Football League season was the 21st season of the Arena Football League. The regular season began play on March 1, 2007 and concluded on June 25... |
265 | 397 | 66.8 | 2571 | 42 | 9 | 101.7 |
| Career Statistics | 3886 | 6224 | 62.4 | 42519 | 809 | 164 | 104 |