On Tuesday, Stanford senior cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly announced on Instagram that he has declared for the 2023 NFL Draft. Kelly will be graduating from Stanford with a degree in Communication. In his post, Kelly said the following:
I’d like to start off by thanking God. Without him and his blessings, none of this is possible. I’d like to thank my family, my backbone who has pushed me and guided me to believe in myself and go for my dreams. To all who have helped me along my journey, I thank you as well.
To my Stanford teammates, you all are family to me. Our memories are ones I’ll cherish for a lifetime and the friendships we have made are with me forever. To my coaches, thank you for helping me prepare for my future. A piece of me will always be at Stanford and will never leave this place.
Truly, I will always be a Cardinal for life.
Though my journey here comes to a close, a new chapter begins. With that all being said, I will be declaring for the 2023 NFL Draft in pursuing my lifelong dream of being a professional football player.
-Kyu Blu Kelly
Communication
This news doesn’t come as any surprise. Kelly announced last year that he was coming back to The Farm for one more season so as to improve his NFL draft stock. With him now graduating and having played four years, there’s really nothing more he can gain from playing college football.
Kelly was named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 first team (Media, Phil Steele, and Athlon) and a variety of watch-lists heading into the season, finishing with 35 total tackles (26 solo) and 6 pass breakups. His season high for total tackles in a game was 7 at home against UCLA and on the road at Cal.
For his career, Kelly totaled 148 tackles (112 solo), 1.5 tackles for a loss, 3 interceptions, 26 pass breakups, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery. His most productive season was actually his junior year in which he totaled 58 tackles (42 solo), 2 interceptions, 13 pass deflections, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery. Some of why he didn’t have the same production as a senior had to do with teams not throwing to his side of the field as much, but then also, he just didn’t seem to make the kind of leap that he was hoping to make.
Despite his senior year not going the way he probably was envisioning it would go, Kelly still is likely to get drafted. Probably in the 4th to 6th round range. Some team is bound to be intrigued by his NFL bloodlines and overall body of work. In the right system, he could end up being a good fit somewhere.
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