By Jimmy Hyams
John Kelly might not know it yet, but a couple of his offensive line teammates have an ambitious goal for the junior from Detroit.
“I feel like JK can run for 2,000 yards,’’ said Tennessee sophomore left tackle Drew Richmond.
Is Kelly capable of such a big year?
“Of course,’’ said senior center Jashon Robertson. “He runs angry and he runs hard. And we love him. When you have a guy in the backfield that you love, that you know any moment can spit loose, you’re going to block your butt off for him.
“Hopefully John Kelly can run for 2000 yards because that’s a perfect reflection of what we’re doing in the run game as an offensive line, and his effort.’’
Only one SEC back in history has recorded a 2,000-yard season: Derrick Henry of Alabama, the year he won the Heisman Trophy in 2015.
That same year, LSU’s Leonard Fournette chalked up 1,953 yards.
Georgia’s Herschel Walker rushed for 1,891 yards in 1981 and would have had 2,000 had bowl statistics counted toward the overall total, as they do now.
A Tennessee back has never come close to a 2,000-yard season. In fact, a UT back has never gained 1,500 yards in a season.
Travis Stephens holds the Tennessee single-season record with 1,464 yards in 2001.
The UT career mark is 3,078 by Travis Henry. Twelve other SEC schools have a career rusher that exceeds UT’s career record. Only Ole Miss had an all-time leader that ranks below Henry – Duece McAllister had 3,060 career rushing yards.
As for Kelly, he led Tennessee in rushing among running backs last year, gaining 630 yards. He averaged 6.4 yards per carry. He had at least 70 games against five opponents. He did all that in the second half of the season. And he did it on a team that had Alvin Kamara and Jalen Hurd for eight games.
By the time Richmond and Robertson bragged about Kelly at UT’s media day, Kelly wasn’t around to respond.
But Richmond did a lot of talking for Kelly.
“I know what JK wants to do,’’ Richmond said. “I know how bad JK wants to show the country who he is.’’
Did Kelly say he wanted to gain 2,000 yards?
“No,’’ Richmond said, “I want him to get 2,000, me and the offensive line.’’
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