LAKELAND — Twenty years ago in the fall of 2005, Lakeland won its second of three straight state titles, and Lake Gibson was coming off back-to-back state runner-up finishes, going 9-4 as regional runner-up.
And Kathleen?
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The Red Devils went 10-3 and were regional runners-up after going 19-4 over the previous two seasons.
It was an era in which Lakeland, Lake Gibson and Kathleen were all consistent winners and playoff teams, something Kenny Kelly would love to see return. Kelly, who begins his first spring practice this week as Kathleen’s new head coach, hopes to do his part and bring consistent winning back to Kathleen.
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Former Tampa Bay Devil Rays draft pick Kenny Kelly has his flag pulled during the 3rd Annual Pros vs. Semi-Pros event Saturday at Out-of-Door Academy.
“I’m hoping we all do because there’s nothing like going in and playing in your local schools, and you both are being competitive and with good records,” Kelly said. “Hopefully for all us coaches, we can get this thing going. I want to make this like Dade County. Polk County’s got to be another country where you come through to go to the state championship.”
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Kelly has his work cut out for him at Kathleen where the program is at its lowest point in about a quarter century. When Richard Tate took over in 2000 after the Red Devils went 0-10, Kathleen went 1-9 then 2-8 before he finally got things turned around.
Kathleen also is coming off a 0-10 season and its last winning season since Irving Strickland stepped down in 2018 after 11 years and just one losing season came in 2019. Current Tenoroc coach Anthony Troutman led Kathleen to a 6-5 record. The Red Devils are 11-49 since 2019.
“The biggest thing is the kids here, they want to learn,” Kelly said. “They want a vision. They want a light at the end of the tunnel. They want a purpose to come out and do things, and I think as a coaching staff, my job is to give the kids a purpose, give them understanding, let them know, hey, you have somebody here who cares, who is going to care for you, not only on the field but off the field. But also too, the culture here has to change, not only its sports programs but also the whole, the whole community.
“There’s been some things that’s happened over the last couple of years that’s kind of put these sports programs in the dumps, but I think this community and these, these kids have to learn how to win again. Once they figure. out what it takes to win and they have a purpose to be great, we’re gonna build something special here.”
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Kelly brings an impressive athletic resume to the position. The Plant City native was a four-sport standout in baseball, football, basketball and track at Tampa Catholic in the late ‘90s. He was part of the schools state championship basketball teams as a sophomore and broke the school record in the long jump.
In baseball, Kelly led Tampa Catholic to a state championship his junior year and he was rated the 20th-best prospect by Baseball America.
In football, he started at quarterback for three seasons and threw 7,486 yards and 77 touchdowns.
Kelly was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devils Rays in the second round of the 1997 draft and signed with Miami to play football. He started his sophomore year at Miami, throwing for 1,913 yards and 15 touchdowns, but gave up football to focus on baseball. He played pro ball for 11 years, mostly in the minors, though played 26 games in the majors in two seasons combined.
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Kelly’s coaching experience includes being Mulberry’s head baseball coach and was the quality control analyst at FIU for there seasons.
One of the biggest challenges in turning around Kathleen’s program is keeping the top athletes in the program. While last seasons’ starting quarterback Kevin Hendrix has transferred to Lakeland, the Red Devils have a core of young players to build around, including leading rusher Xavion Mitchell. The 5-foot-10 back rushed for 604 yards last fall and compiled 802 all-purpose yards.
“He’s put on 10 to 12 pounds over the last month, month and a half just between our workouts, and he’s going to be our workhorse this year,” Kelly said. “He’s a two-sport guy, weightlifting and football, and actually he’s going be a three-sports star next year because he’s going to be doing some running.”
Wide receiver Rashard Kelly is another three-sport athlete, who had 40 receptions last season, and Marcus Bankston, another rising junior, had 19 catches and averaged 25.3 yards per catch. He’s expected to be an even bigger factor on offense this season.
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“We’re going to change the narrative here,” Kelly said. “I just think as far as discipline, you have to be disciplined. We just got to establish and develop these kids, understanding what a student-athlete is supposed to be, and I think the wins and losses will come. We just got to develop these kids and give them a, a vision to be great, and we can go from there.”
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Kenny Kelly leads Kathleen in first spring football practice.
