Quick Facts
Biography
Andy Kelly (born June 6, 1968) is a former American football quarterback in the Arena Football League (AFL). 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. He played college football at the University of Tennessee from 1988 to 1991. He is currently a sideline reporter and commentator for the Vol Network.
High school career
Kelly attended Rhea County High School in Evensville, Tennessee. While attending, he won Gatorade All-America honors in football as a senior.
College career
Kelly was a successful collegiate 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.
College career statistics
| Season | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comp | Att | Yards | Pct. | TD | Int | QB Rating | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | |
| 1988 | 15 | 25 | 98 | 60.0 | 0 | 0 | 92.9 | 9 | -15 | -1.7 | 0 |
| 1989 | 92 | 156 | 1,299 | 59.0 | 7 | 9 | 132.2 | 32 | -33 | -1.0 | 0 |
| 1990 | 179 | 304 | 2,241 | 58.9 | 14 | 14 | 126.8 | 38 | 18 | 0.5 | 0 |
| 1991 | 228 | 361 | 2,759 | 63.2 | 15 | 15 | 132.8 | 57 | 60 | 1.1 | 3 |
| NCAA Career Totals | 514 | 846 | 6,397 | 60.8 | 36 | 38 | 129.3 | 136 | 30 | 0.2 | 3 |
Professional career
Kelly's predominant professional football career was as an Arena Football League quarterback playing some of his career with the New Orleans VooDoo, for whom he played for in 2005 and 2007. He previously played for the Charlotte Rage (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 Pro Football history to throw for over 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.
In June 2013, Kelly was nominated for the AFL Hall of Fame.
Statistics
| Year | Comp. | Att. | Comp% | Yards | TD's | INT's | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 178 | 332 | 53.6 | 2139 | 34 | 15 | 80.3 |
| 1995 | 95 | 166 | 57.2 | 1004 | 16 | 8 | 78.9 |
| 1996 | 58 | 94 | 61.7 | 671 | 8 | 1 | 100 |
| 1997 | 309 | 497 | 62.2 | 3821 | 82 | 14 | 113.7 |
| 1998 | 315 | 518 | 60.8 | 3537 | 73 | 12 | 106.7 |
| 1999 | 324 | 501 | 64.7 | 3609 | 67 | 11 | 110.2 |
| 2000 | 283 | 429 | 66 | 3107 | 55 | 10 | 109.5 |
| 2001 | 230 | 382 | 60.2 | 2699 | 47 | 7 | 104.8 |
| 2002 | 319 | 511 | 62.4 | 3295 | 73 | 16 | 105.4 |
| 2003 | 392 | 654 | 59.9 | 3967 | 92 | 20 | 99.7 |
| 2004 | 360 | 587 | 61.3 | 4184 | 73 | 12 | 105.4 |
| 2005 | 466 | 700 | 66.6 | 4657 | 96 | 12 | 112.4 |
| 2006 (Utah Blaze) | 115 | 162 | 71 | 1402 | 27 | 4 | 126.5 |
| 2006 (Kansas City Brigade) | 177 | 294 | 60.2 | 1856 | 24 | 13 | 80.5 |
| 2007 | 265 | 397 | 66.8 | 2571 | 42 | 9 | 101.7 |
| Career Statistics | 3886 | 6224 | 62.4 | 42519 | 809 | 164 | 104 |