Redshirt senior quarterback Taylor Kelly (left) celebrates after the Sun Bowl against Duke, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014 at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso. The Sun Devils defeated the Blue Devils 36-31 in Kelly's final start. (Ben Moffat/The State Press)When redshirt senior Taylor Kelly first took over as ASU’s quarterback, we weren’t sure what to expect from him. Heck, even after the Sun Bowl, we still don’t.
By now, Kelly’s story has been well-told. He was a two-star recruit and was at one point the third-string quarterback in the 2012 quarterback race only to win the job under first year coach Todd Graham. He led ASU to great success in his first two seasons, but struggled to return to form in 2014 after breaking his foot against Colorado.
While Kelly was sidelined, redshirt junior quarterback Mike Bercovici played well enough that he could have taken the job over for good. But Graham gave Kelly his starting position back after Bercovici went 92 for 146 for 1,243 yards and nine touchdowns in three starts.
At times it looked like Kelly returned to normal during the season, but in other moments he struggled, such as in losses to Oregon State and UA. In the Territorial Cup, Graham benched Kelly for Bercovici, but immediately after losing the game Graham reinstated Kelly as his starter for the bowl game.
In the Sun Bowl against Duke, Kelly was at his best, and the win should cement his legacy as an all-time ASU great. He didn’t turn the ball over, though he was somewhat fortunate to do so because he fumbled twice. Kelly also completed a season-best 70.4 percent of his passes.
“He was hurt physically,” Graham said after the Sun Bowl. “And a lot of people think, ‘well coach is just being loyal’ (by starting Kelly). No. We put the quarterback on the field that’s the best player to help us win a championship and Taylor Kelly was it. No doubt.”
“This is by far the best I’ve felt ever since I’ve been back,” Kelly said after the Sun Bowl. “(Strength and conditioning) coach (Shawn) Gris(wold) did a tremendous job of getting my body right, my strength (in) my legs back. That really helped me move in the pocket, drive the football and be where I’m supposed to be.”
The Sun Bowl, while not the last game ASU was hoping for, proved to be a fitting way for Kelly to go out – a winner. Kelly and Graham turned the program around overnight into one where 10-win seasons aren’t good enough. That’s not to say Bercovici or another quarterback couldn’t have led ASU to the same success from 2012-14, but we’ll never know.
What Taylor Kelly did in three seasons, both statistically and from a win-loss perspective rival if not best any other ASU quarterback. He went 26-11, accounted for 92 touchdowns (13 rushing) while turning the ball over just 29 times (three fumbles). He completed 712 of 1125 attempts (.633 completion percentage is program record) for 8,819 yards (7.84 per attempt). Excluding sacks, he also carried the ball 303 times for 1,978 yards (6.5 average).
He went 2-1 in the Territorial Cup, 2-1 in bowl games and led the program to 10 wins twice, the program’s first back-to-back double-digit winning seasons since 1972-73, when the team was in the WAC conference.
“(After) the game I told Taylor Kelly (the) best decision I ever made obviously was making you the starting quarterback and believing in you and everybody in that room agreed,” Graham said. ‘There’s not a person on our team that has any regrets about Taylor Kelly playing any snaps this season and then I looked at Mike Bercovici and said, ‘this is your football team.’"
“Also I told him to go play football as long as you can and hurry up and get back here because coach (Mike) Norvell might get a head coaching job and I need to start grooming my next (offensive) coordinator."
Reach the sports editor at jmjanss1@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @jjanssen11
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