Greg Kelley accepts full scholarship to play football at Eastern Michigan
LEANDER, Texas - Leander High School football star Greg Kelley has accepted a scholarship to play football with Eastern Michigan.
“I feel like I’m a 19-year-old kid again, I’m 25 and I’m getting the opportunity that 19, 20, and 21-year-olds do, I’m making new friends, making new brothers,” said Kelley.
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Greg Kelley will be playing as a defense back for Eastern Michigan. (Greg Kelley)
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The road to college football has been far from easy for Kelley. In 2014 he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 25 years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. In 2019 a Williamson County judge overruled the conviction and he was fully exonerated.
“I could have a lot of bitterness for the people who did wrong to me but at the end of the day I choose to forgive, not only for the people who did me wrong but I choose to forgive myself because now I’m experiencing life after exoneration. If I have that hate in my heart it’s going to affect how I’m going to be here on out,” said Kelley.
Kelley originally had plans to try and walk on the UT football team. “Whenever the pandemic happened it crushed some opportunities for me being able to play at UT I tried out this past February so the opportunity wasn’t there so I just wanted to play football,” said Kelley.
Now in Michigan, Kelley said it was tough to leave Texas but is happy to once again play the sport he loves.
Kelley will be playing as a defense back for Eastern Michigan.