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a hit 375 pounds on the bench press – and eventu- ally surpassed his previous lower body strength as well, hitting 435 on squats. He worked out with weights provided by a roommate’s father at his residence during the height of coronavirus restrictions this spring when gyms were closed and he was unable to work with his trainers. He said he is no longer limited physically at all. “My knee feels great,” he said. “If anything the more practice I get the better I feel. That’s kind of just a confidence thing. . . . Playing fast, playing to- wards my instincts and being able to make plays and cuts and everything I need to do on the field without hesitation, the extra practice has just made me more confi- dent.” Kelly was on the side- line during CCU’s games last year despite his injury, and was a constant in team meetings and around the practice field. “Silas was around even when he was injured as a leader. . . . He’s always around,” Staggs said. “You can always feel his presence. It’s great to have him back on the field, but it’s like you didn’t miss him in some aspects of leadership, because he was still fol- lowing a meeting or a player’s meeting and stuff like that for us.” He was a team captain last year, and this year he was selected by his team- mates to be on the team’s 11-player Unity Council, which was previously called the Leadership Council under former coach Joe Moglia. Kelly has been a leader in initiatives off the field, as well. The Chanticleers collectively released a video calling for social and racial justice with the theme “Be The Change” two weeks ago, and Kelly was quick to get behind the idea. An adopted younger brother, Asa, 20, from Guatemala is Kelly’s in- spiration to be involved in social change. “It hits close to home for me,” Kelly said. “He’s a huge source of motiva- tion for me and I love him so much. He’s my little brother and we grew up together, been through a lot together. I’m going to fight for people who have less privilege than me and go through things I don’t have the opportunity to understand.” BIG YEAR EXPECTED After redshirting as a freshman, Kelly was third on the team in tackles with 75 as a redshirt freshman and was second with 60 tackles as a sophomore despite missing almost two full games due to an injury. He also had three tackles for loss in 2018 along with a fumble recovery and three pass breakups. He’s part of an experi- enced and talented defense that just about everyone around the team believes is the best in school history and includes edge rushers Tarron Jackson and Jeffrey Gunter, who have both been selected First Team All-Sun Belt performers, and senior defensive line- man C.J. Brewer, a 2020 preseason second team selection. “Without a doubt this is the most solid defense I’ve played on since I’ve been here,” Kelly said. “You can already tell the poten- tial we have to really dom- inate this year. I feel really good about the guys we have on the defensive side, I feel we could be very, very good this year.” Kelly’s thankful Coastal and the Sun Belt Confer- ence opted to attempt to play a fall season despite the pandemic that caused other conferences such as the Big 10 and Pac-12 to postpone their seasons. “All of us want to play football and that’s why we do all the things we do,” Kelly said. “It may be a little bit more difficult to make it happen this year than previous years, but to know that’s going to hap- pen for us is really awe- some, we’re really thank- ful for it.” Kelly is leaning toward returning to Coastal for at least another season. Though this is his senior year, he still has two years of eligibility remaining because of his 2019 red- shirt season due to his injury and the NCAA’s granting of another year of eligibility for all fall sports athletes because of the coronavirus. “How this season goes will have an influence on that decision,” he said. “It’s always been a dream to go to the NFL, so personally that’s a goal for me. “But other than that I just want to win. I want to win games with my team, I want to win a Sun Belt championship, I want to win the first bowl game for the school, just doing whatever we can to make that happen this year.” Kelly is on pace to gradu- ate in December with bach- elor’s degrees in business management and exercise science and will be working toward an undergraduate degree in finance in the spring semester. He remained at Coastal through the coaching change from Moglia to Jamey Chadwell in Jan- uary 2019 when numerous players defected, and it was a coaching change that initially led him to the Conway school. He was offered a schol- arship by Maryland while at South Carroll High in Carroll County, Maryland and committed to play safety for the Terrapins. But early in his senior season in 2015 Maryland fired Randy Edsall and hired D.J. Durkin, and Kelly said Durkin called him and suggested he go to another school. “That kind of [stunk] because Maryland was my dream school. I thought it was the worst thing that ever happened to me but it kind of turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me because I was able to open up my recruitment and Coastal reached out to me,” Kelly said. “. . . I came on a visit here and absolutely loved the program, loved the coaches, loved the guys I was on my visit with and reached out to on social media. It kind of just felt like family. I’ve been here since 2016 and have loved every minute of it. “I’m just very fortunate and thankful for everything I’ve gotten to experience since I’ve been here.” JOEY MEREDITH Troy University Coastal Carolina linebacker Silas Kelly (29, top) and defensive back Jave Brown (1) tackle Troy running back B.J. Smith during a game in 2018. FROM PAGE 1B KELLY
Article from 10 Sep 2020Sun-News(Myrtle Beach, SC)
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