Florida State DL transfer Grady Kelly ready to make an ‘impact’ for Seminoles

Grady Kelly is different than a large portion of the transfer portal players Florida State signed this offseason.

He already had a starting job. At an FBS school. He had produced at Colorado State, had been a big part of the Rams’ defense the past two years.

Unlike the bevy of players who seemingly transferred to FSU for more playing time, such as the quintet from Alabama, Kelly is coming into a situation where he is not guaranteed nearly as much playing time as he would’ve gotten had he stayed at Colorado State.

Kelly figures to be part of Florida State’s defensive line rotation for sure. But the Seminoles return Joshua Farmer and Darrell Jackson in the interior of the defensive line, so a starting spot isn’t a certainty.

That didn’t matter to Kelly. A Navarre, Fla., native, he wanted to come back home. And he wanted to play at one of the top programs in the United States.

“It’s going to be competition,” Kelly said. “There are great guys here that you’ve got to play with and play against to compete. [The coaches] were very reassuring to me that they thought I was a good player and I can compete with these guys. And that’s just what I plan to do — just come in and compete.”

Kelly started 22 games during his three years at Colorado State. He finished his career there with 79 tackles, 9 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. He was named a second-team all-conference performer by Phil Steele in 2023, and College Football News named him a Freshman All-American during his redshirt freshman year of 2022.

Clearly, he would have been a cornerstone of the Rams’ defense in 2024. But Kelly, who is listed at 6-foot-2, 285 pounds, wanted to play at a higher level. He wanted to see how he stacked up in a Power 5 conference.

It wasn’t easy for Kelly to bid farewell to Colorado State. Unlike a lot of his fellow Florida State transfers, who left their former schools after a year or two, Kelly had been in Fort Collins for three. And had starred for the Rams during that time.

“It was hard to leave,” Kelly said. “But they were extremely supportive. My friends were extremely supportive of my decision. My defensive line coach left there, which played a big factor into why I originally got into the portal. But it’s hard when you build those connections and relationships. It feels like family. But with that feeling of family, they support me in my decision.”

Kelly’s real family is, of course, much closer to him now than when he was in Colorado.

In his younger years, he was a four-sport athlete at Navarre High, which is less than 200 miles from Tallahassee. Colorado State is 1,500 miles away from his hometown.

So, that’s certainly a bonus.

“Family is a huge part of my life,” Kelly said. “I’m extremely close to my family. I’m engaged. My fiance’s family lives right down in the panhandle now. … Being closer to family and having that sense of being back at home was a huge part of my decision.”

But not the only one.

What Florida State coach Mike Norvell and his staff have built in Tallahassee, the positive atmosphere that’s permeating the program, is what stood out to Kelly the most on his official visit.

“You walk around the building, you feel the culture of the building,” he said. “It’s a winning culture. It’s a bunch of guys that want to compete. Against each other, compete against themselves to get better. … And just everywhere we went felt like family. They just treated me so well. And it just felt really genuine. And I’ve been here a couple weeks and nothing about that has changed.”

Spring practice starts for the Seminoles in a little over a month. And though he has been through several Tour of Duty workouts now, and admitted they were, “a beast,” he knows getting on the field is where he can really show his new coaches and teammates what he can do.

During his first media session at Florida State, Kelly gave credit to the Colorado State program for preparing him for this moment. And he said he’s ready to play a vital role for the Seminoles in 2024.

“[Colorado State] got me bigger, faster, stronger, and I can recognize the game at a quicker speed,” Kelly said. “And I definitely think I can make an impact.”

Talk about this story with other die-hard Florida State football fans on the Tribal Council.

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