Kareem Kelly
| No. 16 | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Wide receiver |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | April 1, 1981 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Weight: | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Long Beach Polytechnic (Long Beach, California) |
| College: | USC |
| NFL draft: | 2003 / Round: 6 / Pick: 203 |
| Career history | |
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Career NFL statistics | |
| Player stats at NFL.com | |
Kareem Kelly (born April 1, 1981) is a former
He has also been a member of the
Early years
Football
He played football at the high school level at
As a 1997 junior, he made All-CIF Southern Section second-team, All-CIF Division I first-team, Long Beach Press-Telegram second-team and All-League while catching 43 passes for 560 yards (13.0 avg.) and 9 touchdowns. Long Beach Poly was the CIF Division I champion. In his 3-year career, his team went 36-5. Former Trojans DeShaun Hill, Mike Pollard, Darrell Rideaux, Hershel Dennis and Winston Justice also prepped at Long Beach Poly.
Track
He also starred on the schools track team, which won the 1997 and 1998 state titles. As a junior, he was the 1998 state 200-meter champion in a meet-record 20.76[1] and a member of the state winning 400-meter relay squad. As a senior at the 1999 Arcadia Invitational, he was first in the 200 meters (21.27). At the 1999 CIF Division I meet, he was second in the 100 (10.54) and 200 (21.04), and ran on the winning 400 meter relay quartet. At the 1999 CIF Masters meet, he won the 100 (10.30, tied for 12th in the world on the under-20 windy list in 1999) and 200 (20.61, fourth fastest under-20 windy mark in the world in 1999) and ran a leg on Poly's state record setting victorious 400 meter relay team[1] (40.14). He was the 1999 state champion in the 100 (10.47) and 200 (20.76),[1] and ran a leg on the state meet record setting 400 meter relay squad (40.33). His best times are 10.28 in the 100 meters (the top time in the state in 1998) and 20.53 in the 200.[1]
College career
Football
Kelly played college football and ran track at the University of Southern California and is #3 on the Trojans all-time receiving list with 204 catches;[2] during his tenure at USC he set the school-record for consecutive games with a catch (48), which has since been broken.[1]
Freshman (1999)
In 1999, Kelly had the best season that any Pac-10 freshman wide receiver ever had. As the often-used backup to Windrell Hayes (he even started the
Sophomore (2000)
Kelly started at wide receiver as a sophomore in 2000. He started 8 times (
Junior (2001)
Kelly started for his third season at wide receiver (split end) as a junior in 2001. Overall in 2001 while appearing in all 12 games (he did not start against Arizona State and Arizona, but did play), he had a team-best 49 receptions for 801 yards (16.3 avg.) with 3 touchdowns, plus ran for 38 yards on 6 reverses (6.3 avg.) and returned 8 punts for 51 yards (6.4 avg.). He had a pair of 100-yard receiving games in 2001 (165 yards at Oregon and 127 yards versus Arizona State). He was on the "Watch List" for the 2001
Senior (2002)
Kelly started for his fourth year at wide receiver as a senior in 2002. He also returned punts. He made 2002 All-Pac-10 honorable mention. Overall in 2002 while appearing in all 13 games, he had 46 receptions for 605 yards (13.2 avg.) with 4 touchdowns, plus he had a 1-yard run on a reverse and returned 11 punts for 76 yards (6.9 avg.). He did not start 2 mid-season games (Washington and Oregon), but he did play in those contests. He missed part of 2002 spring practice with a hamstring strain. He also has sprinted for the USC track team. He caught a game-best 6 passes for 66 yards with a touchdown against
Career
Kelly owns USC's career pass catching record (204 receptions,[1] which was broken the next year by Keary Colbert). He is second on the USC list for receiving yards (3,104[1]), behind Johnnie Morton's 3,201. He had a catch in all 48 games he played as a Trojan, tying the Pac-10 record with Keenan Howry of Oregon, which has since been broken by Michael Larkin of Miami University.[1]
Track
Kelly also sprinted for the USC track team.
Sophomore (2000)
In the spring of 2000, he competed in February and March before having to sit out because of eligibility reasons. In his Trojan sprinting debut, he clocked a world junior record and American collegiate record 5.67 to place second in the 50-meter dash in the Los Angeles Indoor Invitational (it was tied for the ninth fastest time in the world in 2000).[1] He then won a heat in the 100 meters at the Trojan Invitational in 10.33 and was fifth in the 100 meters at the ASU USTCA Invitational in 10.57. He also anchored the victorious 400-meter relay teams at the Trojan Invitational (clocking a 40.08) and USC's Centennial Invitational (39.18). He qualified for the World Junior Championships in the 100 and 200.[1]
Junior (2001)
In the spring of 2001, he competed in a pair of March meets before spring football practice began. He won his heat in the 100 meters (10.53) at the Trojan Invitational. He also anchored USC's victorious 400-meter relay squads at the Trojan Invitational (40.29) and the USC-LSU Dual Meet (39.39). He did not return to the track squad after spring football drills because of a slight hamstring strain.
Senior (2002)
In the spring of 2002, his only track appearance came as the anchor leg on USC's sprint relay team at the
Professional career
Kelly was selected in the
Kareem recently opened his first full-service laundromat, International Wash, in Compton, California. He plans to expand the chain and open two more locations in Watts and Long Beach in the summer of 2013.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "LA Avengers Roster". Avengers.web.Ithaca. ContentProject.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
- ^ "Kareem Kelly has seen plenty by Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post". SCFootball.BlogSpot.com. Archived from the original on October 29, 2006. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
- ^ "2003 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
