When Gray Kelley arrived at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2024, he figured he would get one season of football alongside his older brother, Jude, then in his fifth year of college and, just like him, a kicker.
Two seasons later, they’re still teammates.
“His first year of college was my freshman year of high school, and I’m about to be a junior in college,” Gray said. “I was expecting to get at least one, maybe two (seasons together), but to have three was not on my bingo card.”
The math works because Jude’s eligibility clock has taken a winding path.
He spent three seasons at Georgia Tech, but the 2020 season didn’t count against athletic eligibility due to a blanket waiver issued by the NCAA amid the COVID-19 pandemic, so when he transferred to UTC in 2023, he was considered a junior. An injury cost him that season and earned him a redshirt, and he has kicked for the Mocs the past two years. UTC’s staff then retroactively recovered the 2021 season he lost at Georgia Tech, when an injury limited him to four games with the Yellow Jackets, which is why he’s back for a third season of football with Gray.