The West Virginia Mountaineers football program has landed another piece out of the transfer portal with a commitment from Missouri defensive lineman Eddie Kelly.
Kelly, 6-foot-4, 278-pounds, committed to the Mountaineers after taking an official visit to campus beginning April 18. The Big 12 Conference program had extended an offer to Kelly April 16.
The Florida native selected the Mountaineers over scholarship offers from Virginia Tech, Kansas and more.
West Virginia will be the fourth stop for Kelly in four seasons of college football as he began his career at South Florida before moving onto Georgia Tech and then to Missouri.
At South Florida, Kelly appeared in 11 games and recorded 19 tackles as a true freshman before transferring to Georgia Tech where he had 36 tackles. This past season at Missouri Kelly played in all 13 games and recorded 20 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and a sack.
Kelly has one year of eligibility remaining in his career.
WVSports.com breaks down the commitment of Kelly and what it means to the West Virginia Mountaineers football program both now and in the future.
The data:
Kelly is an experience option on the defensive line with 841 snaps spread out across his three seasons. Kelly is coming off his best season at the college level grading out at 76.1 according to Pro Football Focus with strong marks in run defense (76.6), tackling (76.7) and coverage (81.7) while also registering a solid mark in pass rusher at 66.6. Kelly was a versatile piece on defensive last season seeing time at both outside linebacker and on the defensive line for the Tigers.
That will likely be his role at West Virginia as an edge defender that can put pressure on the quarterback from various spots.
Kelly has generated 23 hurries over the course of his carer and has been a strong tackler with just 6 missed tackles across his college career. He also has a total of 4 sacks to his credit. This is an experienced pass rusher that can end up playing a number of spots as a versatile piece on defense.
Fitting the program:
Kelly is an experienced defensive lineman that has had success at multiple stops over the course of his college career. The Florida native should immediately provide an upgrade to the room and with one season of eligibility left he will be counted on to step into a role from the jump.
Kelly joins a defensive line room with a dozen other scholarship players although he also will likely be used as a bandit given his time spent as an outside linebacker over his career. The Mountaineers targeted Kelly when he entered the transfer portal and was able to secure his commitment giving the program an upgrade up front.
Recruiting the position:
Even with Kelly in the fold, West Virginia is still likely to take some defensive linemen with the remaining spots if the right fit emerges. The program lost a lot of depth once spring football ended and needs to replace that.
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