Kelly gives a big boost to Lobos’ offense

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2001 | 9:53 a.m.

It's a question that has been asked around the Mountain West Conference since Rocky Long took over as head coach at New Mexico four years ago.

What if the Lobos ever had an offense that was nearly as effective as their hard-hitting, blitz-from-all-angles, nationally rated defense?

The answer may very well be summed up in two words: bowl game.

Since inserting sophomore walk-on Casey Kelly at quarterback for the struggling Rudy Caamano in early October, the Lobos (4-4, 3-2) have averaged 30.5 points per game en route to three victories and a narrow 24-20 loss to BYU.

The passing of the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Kelly has added some much-needed balance to a Lobo offense that used to rely almost strictly on the power running of fullback Jarrod Baxter and tailback Holmon Wiggins.

After four games, New Mexico ranked last among the nation's 117 Division 1-A football teams in pass completion (33.6 percent) and pass efficiency (75.67). The Lobos managed just victory in that span, a 26-6 season-opening win at UTEP.

Kelly is 69 of 135 (51.1 percent) for 928 yards, six touchdowns and seven interceptions in his four starts. The team pass efficiency has jumped up to 96.36. And the Lobos have gone 3-1 in that span, including a 52-33 blowout of Air Force.

"Obviously, he's improved our offensive football team," Long said. "We've been able to move the ball consistently. ... He has natural leadership abilities."

Kelly came to New Mexico as a walk-on from Westview High School in Portland, Ore., where he was actually considered a better baseball player than a football player. He hit .415 as a senior first baseman and was drafted in the 32nd round by the Colorado Rockies.

"At that time, people were telling me I was a better baseball player than a football player," Kelly said. "They thought I was crazy not playing baseball. But I decided I wanted to play football. Football was always the sport I loved the most."

So Kelly sent out film of himself to a number of colleges to see if they might be interested. Both Oregon and Oregon State offered him a chance to walk on, but Kelly decided he would have a better chance of perhaps one day playing if he went to New Mexico, which didn't sign a freshman quarterback that year and also offered to let him walk on.

"I knew I would have to work my way up," Kelly said. "The first day I came out I was seventh or eighth string."

While redshirting his freshman year in 1999, Kelly directed the scout team against a Lobo defense that featured current Chicago Bears star Brian Urlacher at safety.

"It was good experience playing against players like that," Kelly said. "(Urlacher) never really clobbered me in practice or anything. He wasn't that kind of guy to take it out on the scout guys. He'd just run by you and kind of touch you."

Kelly backed up Caamano last season and saw some brief action against BYU and UNLV. In fact, he came off the bench in the final seconds of the Rebels' 18-14 victory at Sam Boyd Stadium to throw his first college pass, a Hail Mary lob that was picked off by Rebel corner Amar Brisco.

"I just came in and threw it up there and it got picked off to end the game," he said.

Now he gets a chance to atone for that miscue on Saturday at University Stadium against the Rebels.

"We've got three games to go," Kelly said. "If we can win two of the three, we might be able to go to a bowl game. That's our goal now."