Kareem Kelly (born April 1, 1981) is an American former professional football wide receiver.
He was a 1998 Super Prep All-American, Prep Star Dream Team Top 100, ESPN Top 100, The Sporting News 101 Prime Prospects, Rivalnet Top 100, USA Today All-USA honorable mention, Super Prep All-Farwest, Prep Star All-Western, Long Beach Press-Telegram Best in the West first-team (unanimous selection), Orange County Register Fab 15 first-team, Tacoma News Tribune Western 100, Las Vegas Sun Super 11 first-team, Cal-Hi Sports All-State second-team, All-CIF Southern Section first-team, All-CIF Division I first-team, Los Angeles Times All-South Coast/Southeast and Long Beach Press-Telegram Dream Team first-team as a senior at Long Beach (Calif.) Poly High.
Former Trojans DeShaun Hill, Mike Pollard, Darrell Rideaux, Hershel Dennis and Winston Justice also prepped at Long Beach Poly.
At the 1999 CIF Division I meet, he was second in the 100 (10.54) and 200 (21.04), and ran on the winning 400 meter relay quartet.
At the 1999 CIF Masters meet, he won the 100 (10.30, tied for 12th in the world on the under-20 windy list in 1999) and 200 (20.61, fourth fastest under-20 windy mark in the world in 1999) and ran a leg on Poly's state record setting victorious 400 meter relay team[1] (40.14).
[1] Kelly played college football and ran track at the University of Southern California and is #3 on the Trojans all-time receiving list with 204 catches;[2] during his tenure at USC he set the school-record for consecutive games with a catch (48), which has since been broken.
As the often-used backup to Windrell Hayes (he even started the Oregon State and Arizona games when Hayes was injured), he appeared in all 12 games in 1999 and caught 54 passes (second on USC) for a team-best 902 yards (team-high 16.7 avg.)
Against San Diego State, he had 6 catches for 98 yards (both game highs), including a 13-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter (the game's decisive points) as he outleaped an Aztec defender (who ripped off his helmet on the tackle).
He missed the Arizona game after spraining his ankle and straining his quadriceps at Oregon State.
Overall in 2000 while appearing in 11 games, he led USC in receptions (55) and yardage (796 yards) for a 14.5 average with 4 touchdowns.
He had 1 for 11 yards at Oregon State before suffering a strained right quad which sidelined him for the Arizona contest.
Kelly started for his third season at wide receiver (split end) as a junior in 2001.
Against Iowa in the Orange Bowl, he had 3 catches for 74 yards (including a 65-yarder on USC's first play to set up a touchdown) to set an NCAA record for consecutive games with a catch (47) en route to becoming Troy's career reception leader (204).
Kelly owns USC's career pass catching record (204 receptions,[1] which was broken the next year by Keary Colbert).
He had a catch in all 48 games he played as a Trojan, tying the Pac-10 record with Keenan Howry of Oregon, which has since been broken by Michael Larkin of Miami University.
In his Trojan sprinting debut, he clocked a world junior record and American collegiate record 5.67 to place second in the 50-meter dash in the Los Angeles Indoor Invitational (it was tied for the ninth fastest time in the world in 2000).
He also anchored USC's victorious 400-meter relay squads at the Trojan Invitational (40.29) and the USC-LSU Dual Meet (39.39).
He did not return to the track squad after spring football drills because of a slight hamstring strain.
In the spring of 2002, his only track appearance came as the anchor leg on USC's sprint relay team at the NCAA meet which finished fifth in 39.27 (the squad also was third in its heat in 39.28).
[3] Kelly played in all four preseason games, but was released prior to the start of the regular season.
He signed a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League on November 2, 2005.
[1] While with the Avengers he was one of 45 former Trojan teammates on the roster: fullback/linebacker Lonnie Ford and offensive/defensive lineman Bernard Riley.