By Robert Wilson
Tommy Kelly was a standout basketball player at Provine High, a star defensive lineman at Hinds Community College and Mississippi State and played in the NFL for 11 seasons.
He knows football.
Now, the 43-year-old Kelly will get his first try as a high school head coach.
Kelly begins his first season at Lanier High, a Jackson Public School rival of his alma mater. Kelly replaced Michael Ashford, who had been at Lanier since 2017. Ashford was unable to continue to coach due to health reasons.
“It was always my lifelong dream to be a coach,” said Kelly, who was a defensive line coach for seven seasons and defensive coordinator for five of those seasons at Provine and the defensive line coach at Copiah-Lincoln CC last season. “I knew when I was playing in high school either I’m going to coach football or basketball because I played both sports growing up. Former Jackson Public Schools athletic director Daryl Jones hit me up and asked if I wanted to talk about the Lanier football program. I told them I would love the opportunity to turn around the program and change the culture.”
Kelly was a basketball star and helped Provine to a state championship as a junior in 1998. He only played football his senior year. He signed football with Ole Miss but played one year of football at Hinds CC before playing at MSU.
The 6-foot-6, 310-pound Kelly was a problem for opposing offensive lineman whenever he was in the game in the NFL. He was so good the Oakland Raiders signed Kelly to the largest contract ever given to a defensive tackle at that time in 2008, a seven-year, $50.5 million contract. He ranks ninth all-time in Raiders history with 34 sacks in his nine seasons in Oakland.
After being released by the Raiders in 2013, Kelly played with the New England Patriots in 2013 and the Arizona Cardinals in 2014 before retiring before the 2015 season.
Kelly grew up loving basketball and became a star player on some of best Provine teams in school history. As a sophomore, Kelly helped Provine to a state championship runner-up finish, playing with future Olympian Savante Stringfellow, who was a senior. As a junior, Kelly played with the Provine posse (David Sanders, Aaron Harper and Justin Reed) to lead the Rams – coached by Wayne Brent – to the state championship.
Kelly’s grandmother was the one who convinced to play football as a senior at Provine.
“My grandma (Gertrude Kelly) and my parents (father Tommy McGraw and mother Grace) always wanted me to be happy in whatever sport I choose to play,” Kelly said. “I love sports. I grew up playing football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. I just love competition. But my grandma asked me after taking to (Wayne) Brent, my basketball coach at Provine. She wanted me to give it another shot. It was the best decision I ever made other than marrying my wife (Jammie).”
“I knew Tommy was a major football talent,” said Brent, who led Provine to the state title in 1999 and state runner-up finish in 1998 before he left to coach at Ole Miss after Kelly’s junior year. “He fell in love with basketball, but he had the potential to make it big in football. And he did. Tommy knew his sports. He was like an encyclopedia about sports. He knew everyone on the NFL and NBA rosters. I am proud of the football player Tommy became and I know he will do well as a head football coach.”
Co-Lin head football coach Glenn Davis is a big Tommy Kelly fan. He has seen him grow up since Kelly was in high school at Provine, was on the football staff at MSU when Kelly was playing for the Bulldogs, and watched Kelly became an NFL star with the Raiders.
“I think Tommy will do a great job at Lanier, especially since he is from Jackson and he can tell kids about growing up there, things he’s seen on a daily basis and how he made good decisions and worked hard to make it as an NFL player and became the largest contract for a defensive tackle in NFL history at that time,” said Davis, who is starting his 21st season at Co-Lin CC. “I believe the players will listen to him because he’s been there, and they will play hard for him.”
Davis first saw Kelly when Kelly was a junior playing basketball on Provine’s state championship team.
“I watched him play basketball and he was a very good post player,” Davis said. “I stayed after the game and talked to Tommy and told him he could make a lot of money playing football on Sundays (in the NFL) one day. He decided to play football after that basketball season. I went to the spring football scrimmage when Provine played Brandon because I was recruiting a couple of kids from Brandon for Mississippi State. I watched Tommy tackle the dive, make the quarterback pitch it to (former high school All-American, MSU All-SEC star and former NFL running back) Jerious (Norwood), and knock Norwood out of bounds for only a 2-yard gain. It was an incredible play. I called (then MSU coach Jackie) Coach Sherrill and told him I just saw a phenomenal athlete and we need to keep our eye on him. After playing at Hinds, Tommy played with us (at MSU) and kept getting better and better. He’s a super guy and a quick learner. I knew his best football was ahead of him and he became a great pro. John Blake was his position coach at MSU and did a great job with Tommy. Tommy has become a great father and husband and I know he’s going to do well as a head football coach.”
Kelly will lean on what he learned from his coaches during his playing career as he embarks on this new chapter of his life.
“I had a lot of great coaches in my playing career,” Kelly said. “Nothing replaces hard work. Never take short cuts on the field or in life. Attention to details. The little things matter. Being hard, but fair with my guys. Sometimes you have to get on a kid, but it’s important to go back and let that kid know I’m hard on you because I love them and want them to be great. Always putting my guys in a position to win on the field, but also in life.”
“Tommy is a great coach and a really good friend of mine,” Provine coach Tim Wilson said. “Coach Kelly and I worked together for several years at Provine. Coach Kelly is a defensive minded coach and one of the top defensive line coaches in the state. He is a student of the game and loves to coach football. His coaching influences goes far beyond a lot of coaches because of his tenure in the NFL. He played for Bill Belichick, Bruce Arians, Lane Kiffin, and Todd Bowles to name a few. He has seen the top level of football and how to run a program. Tommy always told me he wanted to run his own program. Although I didn’t want him to leave, it was something we talked about all the time. Lanier has gotten themselves a good football coach in Coach Kelly. I believe he will do a great job at Lanier.
“Coach Kelly is a great coach and an inspiration to others. Given that Coach Kelly is a former NFL player and comes from Jackson, his players should try to take in his advice and apply it into their playing. I respect his hard coaching style, which prepares every player to play on the next level.”
“Tommy has always been a smart young man,” said Willie Collins, who coached Kelly at Provine and was an assistant under Stanley Blackmon from 1982-1990 and head coach at Provine from 1991-2013. “He would always go to the library and study up on teams and players, know their sizes, know the best players, and know their strengths and weaknesses. I knew he had a bright future after high school, and he was great at Mississippi State and in the NFL with the Raiders. I watched him all the time. Tommy will do great as a head coach. He will instill discipline into his players, and everything will fall into place after that. He will be a winner. Don’t be surprised if they play for the state championship one day.”
Kelly’s assistant coaches are Quemenzy Carey (offensive coordinator), Tre Clark (running backs), Curtis Stapleton (offensive line), Melvin Hodge (defensive line), Roffeyl Gordon (linebackers), Khamari Ballard (defensive backs). Kelly is the defensive coordinator.
Lanier has nine returning starters, five on offense and four on defense, from last year’s 3-8 team, which lost 58-26 to Poplarville in the first round of the MHSAA Class 4A playoffs. Poplarville reached the semifinals.
Senior running back Jeremiah Wilson is the top returning starter on offense. He had 1,300 yards and 10 touchdowns last season as a junior. Also back is sophomore quarterback Darrell Roberts, who started every game last year as a freshman. There are three returning starters on the offensive line, seniors Kristan Edwards and Rayquan Course, and sophomore Koriyan Dixon.
“Coach Kelly is a great coach and an inspiration to others,” Wilson said. “Given that Coach Kelly is a former NFL player and comes from Jackson, I should try to take in his advice and apply it to my playing. I respect his hard coaching style, which prepares every player to play on the next level.”
Senior linebacker Langston Clark is the top returning starter on defense. He had more than 100 tackles last year. Other returning starters are senior defensive end D’Marion Smith (seven sacks last year), junior safety Phillip Scott and junior defensive lineman Robert Wesley.
Another key player on defense is junior safety and Madison Central transfer Jamison Kelly, the coach’s son. The 5-11, 190-pound Kelly started last year and had 78 tackles, 10 pass breakups, 2 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries as a sophomore. He played at Provine with his father two years ago as a freshman and transferred to Madison Central when his dad coached at Co-Lin last season.
“One of the ways my dad has been a good influence on me is telling me to work hard,” Jamison Kelly said. “He kind of instilled working out into me once I got into middle school. My dad was undrafted free agent coming into the NFL, so he had to work his way up from the bottom.
“Another way my dad has been a good influence on me is having self-confidence. He used to always tell me if you don’t believe in yourself no one else will.”
“I expect us to be a very physical team on offense and defense,” Tommy Kelly said. “We want to be a hard-nosed team who will run the ball and control the line of scrimmage. We want to be smart and physical on defense and team that plays hard for four quarters.”
Kelly’s oldest son, Tommy Kelly Jr., is a sophomore linebacker at Hinds CC. He played at Mississippi Gulf Coast CC last season. Kelly was one of the best linebackers in Mississippi as a junior and senior at Provine. Kelly was a two-time Metro Jackson selection.
Kelly had 133 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, in 10 games as a senior. He had 134 tackles in nine games, an average of 14.9 tackles per game, as a junior.
Lanier scrimmaged Yazoo County Friday at Canton High and opens the regular season Friday against Newton at North Jackson Field in Jackson. Lanier defeated Newton 52-32 in last year’s season opener at Newton.
