PASADENA, Calif. — Caleb Kelly picked himself up in a jiffy, lifting himself off the perfectly cut blades of grass of the Arroyo Seco.
The Oklahoma sophomore linebacker had to see how his big hit evolved into a monumental game-changer in “The Granddaddy of Them All.”
Seconds after shedding blocks and upending elusive Georgia running back Sony Michel while jarring the ball loose with a colossal hit, Kelly gave the Sooner defense its biggest play of the day with a forced fumble.
The play unfolded into a masterpiece before the Fresno native’s eyes as safety Steven Parker picked up the loose ball on the run and returned it 46 yards for a go-ahead scoop-and-score touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl.
“It was pretty cool,” Kelly said. “I ended up just one-on-one with him (Michel) and it didn’t look like he was trying to juke me. It looked like he was trying to run me over. I hit him as hard as I could and next thing I knew, Steven was running with the ball.
“I got to change the game.”
When OU’s defense needed a big play in its most desperate hour, Kelly was there to ignite the spark.
Kelly’s eyes immediately shifted from Parker galloping into the end zone to the more than 40 of his family members attending the Rose Bowl for his homecoming parade.
His moment in the Rose Bowl spotlight had reached its pinnacle, and he was grateful those closest to him got to witness it.
“Looking up in the crowd and seeing a whole section there for me, it’s pretty cool,” Kelly said. “I played pretty well, too — for them.”
While the Rose Bowl didn’t end in OU’s favor in the 54-48 double overtime loss to Georgia, Kelly’s game-changing play will go down in program history.
“It’s pretty awesome getting to be a part of a history,” said an upbeat Kelly, who was none too distraught in the locker room moments after a heart-wrenching loss. “It’s just a blessing to get to play in a game as big as this. We’ll be remembered forever.”
Second to only his mother, Kelly’s biggest fan and girlfriend, Ana Maldonado, was cheering in the stands nestled into the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Come this fall, Maldonado will embark on a journey eerily similar to Kelly as she becomes a Division-I athlete far away from the comforts of her California life. Maldonado will be a freshman playing soccer for the Nebraska Huskers while Kelly begins his junior year as a Sooner.
“I’m so proud of her,” Kelly said. “She’s been playing soccer her whole life so just having the opportunity to go play for free, that’s a blessing. She has so many academic goals as well so I’m excited for what’s in store for her.”
Distance from the West Coast to the Heartland has done nothing but strengthen their relationship the past two years since Kelly arrived in Norman.
While the long distance relationship will shrink this year as the seven hour drive from Norman to Lincoln is far more manageable than circumstances now, it doesn’t mean they will get to see each other more often given their obligations as student athletes.
As Maldonado begins the next chapter of her life which will read a lot like Kelly’s did when he embarked from Fresno to the middle of nowhere, she knows she has her Sooner linebacker to lean on for wisdom and encouragement.
Kelly also knows he can use the lessons he’s learned in his first two years as a Sooner to help her as a Husker.
“I think it’s cool we’re in the same season so we always know what each other’s schedule is,” Kelly said. “We always know how to help each other out and get each other through the ups and downs.”
Much like Maldonado will lean on Kelly next year, the young linebacker has leaned on his mother all the more for the past 19 years.
“He was different than some of the other kids,” said Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, who was the first coach to offer Kelly before many big schools soon followed. “Fresno is a tough area. There's a lot of challenges coming out of Fresno. You're going to go on one side of the tracks or the other, but he always stayed on this side of the tracks and never wavered.”
Valerie raised him as a single mother which has made Caleb’s success as a Sooner all the more special. No wonder the former five-star recruit is a self-proclaimed “mama’s boy.”
Stoops, though, is none too surprised the Clovis West High grad turned out to be a star player for the Oklahoma defense after an upbringing not as smooth as most elite recruits.
“I think it's the commitment to his mother to be successful in whatever he does,” Stoops said. “That's the thing that I really respect about him. Football’s important, but he’s way deeper than that.”
This season, Kelly was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention by the coaches and tallied 56 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, an interception, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
Another standout season after an impressive freshman year was not guaranteed when Kelly chose Oklahoma over Notre Dame and several other national powerhouses.
“I’m happy for those guys because some of those guys made a — I don’t know if 'sacrifice' is the right word — but they took a big leap of faith with us to come all the way here to Oklahoma to go to school and play football,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said before the Rose Bowl. “So it’s gonna be nice to go up there and play on their home turf.”
Nice was an understatement for Kelly as the last time he got a chance to play in front of his entire family all at once was back in his senior year of high school, three years ago.
His mom, Valerie, and others have come to watch him at multiple games including the Big 12 championship last month, but never has the Fresno clan watched altogether in person.
Kelly saved the best opportunity for a reunion to ring in the New Year — at the Rose Bowl no less.
Kelly’s mom predicted earlier this season that OU would make the Rose Bowl. Her premonition came to fruition and the family reunion was on.
His mom wanted to return the favor to all the Sooner faithful who have made her son feel so welcome in a place far, far away from Fresno, California, which sits in the valley less than four hours north of Pasadena.
"I love that they're all here because when you go to Oklahoma, it's home,” Kelly’s mom, Valerie said. “Even though you're not home, you feel like you're at home. So when everybody's here, it's like they're in your hometown and you want to make them feel at home too. So you're walking down the streets, screaming 'Boomer Sooner' and cheering with everybody.”
In the days leading up to the Rose Bowl, Kelly said he wanted to “ball out” playing back in his home state in front of family and friends.
Ball out he did, and even though Kelly’s heroic efforts weren’t enough to lift the Sooners to the national championship game, he is eager to ball out again next year when the Sooner defense will need him even more.
Next season, Kelly will be one of the focal points of the Sooner defense as he and freshman linebacker Kenneth Murray — named Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year — will likely assume key leadership roles while anchoring the oft criticized defense.
Kelly has had his fair share of highlights in his young college career.
His one-handed interception against Texas Tech this fall finally stopped the elusive Red Raiders offense, giving the Sooners defense some much needed traction.
Kelly had a career-high 12 tackles in the Sugar Bowl victory over Auburn last year — a breakout game that has helped stage his stellar sophomore campaign.
Kelly’s scoop-and-score fumble recovery touchdown in the Big 12 championship game against TCU last month gave the Sooners an early 10-0 lead while instilling much needed confidence on the defensive side of the ball.
One of his closest friends, Ogbo Okoronkwo, who also happens to be his teammate and his defensive mentor, knows the best is still yet to come for Kelly though.
It’s even greater than the game-changing play he made in the Rose Bowl during his heartwarming homecoming.
“Y'all going to see he’s going to keep getting better every year,” Okoronkwo said. “He hasn’t scratched the surface of what he can do.”