South Carolina football recruiting profiles: Max Kelley
South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer and his coaching staff have less than a week before National Signing Day. (Remember when recruits signed in February?) The Early Signing Period begins Wednesday, December 4th, and the majority of teams’ high school recruiting classes will be completed by the time the Early Signing Period ends on Friday, December 6th. In the weeks leading up to NSD, GamecockCentral will profile each player in the 2025 recruiting class. Today, we will look at kicker/punter Max Kelley.
Max Kelley (3-star, Kicker/Punter, 6’2″, 210 pounds)
What the rankings say: 3-star in On3 industry rankings, No. 2220 nationally, No. 60 in Tennessee, No. 3 among all kickers; Max Kelley is a consensus 3-star prospect according to the major outlets and is a 5-star kicker and 4.5-star punter according to Kohl’s Kicking
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Max Kelley is pretty good at kicking footballs. The Tennessee product has become one of the top-rated kickers and punters in the country. It is not that common for specialists to earn scholarship offers to major programs out of high school, but Kelley is a special talent. According to Kohl’s Kicking, he is the No. 11 kicker in the 2025 cycle and the No. 40 punter.
Kelley picked South Carolina over an offer from the in-state Tennessee Volunteers. He pulled the trigger on his Gamecock commitment about a month after the initial offer.
One of the biggest legs in the class of 2025, Kelley’s film is impressive. He has made multiple 50-yard field goals in games, he has logged some 60-yard punts, and he routinely boots kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks. His kicks also have plenty of height on them, keeping them out of reach of block attempts and making things a little easier on the coverage units.
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Kelley’s primary duties will be kicking (in some fashion), but he can do a little more on the football field. He is a multi-sport athlete for his Gallatin Green Wave. He also plays baseball and has shown some ability to pass when involved in the fake game. Kelley runs pretty well, too, and was called on to run in a couple of 2-point conversions in high school. He also has enough size to help make tackles if necessary in kick coverage.
This offseason, South Carolina will lose both starting punter Kai Kroeger and starting kicker Alex Herrera to graduation. Scholarship player Mason Love redshirted this season and will get a look at both spots. However, there will be a real competition at the two positions, and Kelley will be involved. Special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis will be glad to add Kelley to his room this offseason.
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You can watch some of Kelley’s film below.
