Football’s Kelly Earns AFCA Good Works Team Nomination

TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State University redshirt senior quarterback Taylor Kelly has been nominated for the 2014 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team^®, the American Football Coaches Association announced Tuesday.

Nominees represent the sport’s finest in the areas of volunteerism and leadership, and the award recognizes players whose charitable involvement and community service contributions stand out among all other student-athletes participating in the sport.

Kelly is one of five Football Bowl Subdivision student-athletes to earn a nomination in both 2013 and 2014, joining Baylor University’s Bryce Petty, Ole Miss’ Deterrian Shackelford, University of Toledo’s Greg Mancz and Utah State University’s Chuckie Keeton. 

This is the seventh consecutive season a Sun Devil has been nominated for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team^®, following Kelly in 2013, Brandon Magee in 2012, Aaron Pflugrad in 2011, Thomas Weber in 2010, Mike Nixon in 2009 and Keegan Heering in 2008. 

Kelly is heavily involved in the Scholar Baller leadership and outreach program, where he helps develop curriculum, deliver, teach and mentor students at South Mountain High School, Academy of Excellence and Cesar Chavez High School. He teaches them about developing championship character, creating a strong sense of self and becoming a great leader, among other things.

He graduated in May 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Education and is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honoree, including a second team member in 2013.

Kelly enters the season with the second most career starts for a quarterback in the Pac-12 at 27 and is just the second Sun Devil in school history to have multiple seasons with 3,000-plus passing yards. He earned Second Team All-Pac-12 honors in 2013 after he threw for 3,635 yards, the third most in a single season in school history, and moved into the top five on seven single-season school record lists, including passing yards, completions, total offense and points responsible for, among others.

ASU opens its campaign toward the Pac-12 Championship on Aug. 28 at Sun Devil Stadium against Weber State and the remaining home schedule includes UCLA on Sept. 25, a rematch with Stanford on Oct. 18 and a non-conference game with Notre Dame on Nov. 8.  

Season tickets are currently on sale at www.sundeviltickets.com, by calling the Sun Devil Athletics Ticket Office at 480-965-5812, making an appointment with a Sun Devil Sales and Service staff member, or visiting the Sun Devil Ticket Office, located on the south end of Sun Devil Stadium. The ticket office is open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Click here for pricing and more information about Sun Devil Football season tickets.

In addition to guaranteeing the same seat for all 2014 home games, becoming a Sun Devil Football Season Ticket Holder is the only way to guarantee tickets to the Notre Dame game on Nov. 8, 2014, at Sun Devil Stadium.

About the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team^®

Comprised of 11 players from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and 11 players from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II, III and the NAIA, the final roster of 22 award recipients will be unveiled in September. From the nominees submitted by sports information directors across the nation on behalf of their schools, a special voting panel consisting of former Allstate AFCA Good Works Team^® members and prominent college football media members will select the 2014 Good Works Team^®.

The 2014 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team^® voting panel includes: former Good Works Team^® members Zaid Abdul-Aleem (Duke, 1994 team), Matt Stinchcomb (Georgia, 1997, 1998 teams), Brian Brenberg (St. Thomas, 2001 team), Mike Proman (Amherst, 2002 team); media members Lou Holtz (ESPN), Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN), Bruce Feldman (Fox Sports),  Blair Kerkhoff (Kansas City Star); current AFCA President and Ithaca College head coach Mike Welch; 1987 AFCA President and former head coach at Brigham Young University LaVell Edwards; and Jim Haskins, president of Allstate’s West Territory.

Once the final team members are announced in September, fans are encouraged to visit the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® website on ESPN.com, featuring profiles and images of the players, for the opportunity to vote for the 2014 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® Captain.

In order to meet the criteria set forth by Allstate and the AFCA, each player must be actively involved and committed to working with a charitable organization or service group while maintaining a strong academic standing.