‘OLD CAM IS BACK’
Ex-Oscar Smith star out to show locals at Tech that he’s healthy
Jawing with Virginia Tech players who are fellow Hampton Roads natives during the height of the coronavirus pandemic helped spark something inside North Carolina’s Cam’Ron Kelly. He was rehabbing a bum knee, but the verbal sparring was good for his soul.
After assessing the progress of his repaired right knee in two games this season, Kelly has proclaimed himself beyond the testing phase. It comes at the right time, with No. 8 UNC preparing to host No. 19 Virginia Tech (2-0, 2-0 ACC) on Saturday.
“Old Cam is back,” said Kelly, a graduate of Oscar Smith High in Chesapeake who sustained a torn ACL on Sept. 28, 2019,
against Clemson in his first career start. “I feel like I definitely got my swag back now, and I’m actually better than the old Cam. That’s going to be a scary sight for a lot of people. I’m definitely ready to get back and show them what I can do. I don’t think anything is holding me back at this point.”
UNC’s training and rehab resources weren’t available to Kelly for the spring quarantine period, but he didn’t fall behind. Kelly got his knee in shape, working with Fuel Sports Performance in Virginia
Beach and training in their Norfolk facility.
“It definitely took patience,” said Kelly, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound sophomore who’s second on UNC’s depth chart at strong safety. “Now, I’m at a point where it’s time to go and I’m ready.”
The workouts are where he ran into Tech players and fellow 757 products like linebacker Keshon Artis from Oscar Smith, defensive backs Devon Hunter from Indian River High in Chesapeake and Armani Chatman from Catholic High in Virginia Beach and former Tech running back Deshawn McClease from Oscar
Smith.
If Kelly needed proof the UNC-Tech rivalry is alive and well, he got it.
“Some guys were throwing a little bit of shade here and there, but I talked to them about it,” said Kelly, who committed to Tech in June 2018, reneged on his pledge a month later and committed to Auburn before transferring to UNC in the spring of 2019 to be closer to his ailing mother and sister.
“During (this past spring), there were some shots thrown between parties. So that’s definitely playing a role in this week, too. Being a Virginia cat, and also being committed to them at one point in time during my recruiting process, I know some of the Tech guys. They still probably hold that over my head that I didn’t end up there because I was a Virginia cat and a highly-recruited guy from Virginia and the 757. I can only imagine how they’re taking it.”
Kelly anticipates more playing time than he received in the season opener against Syracuse and last weekend at Boston College.
His optimism appears well-founded. UNC coach Mack Brown has intimated
both Kelly and cornerback Patrice Rene, an alum of Episcopal High in Alexandria who also rehabbed a torn ACL during the offseason, will play bigger roles.
“Their rehab was delayed because of (COVID-19), because they couldn’t be at the office and couldn’t work with our training staff,” Brown said Wednesday.
“They are better now. I do think they’ll both play this weekend, really for the first time. … Usually, it takes about nine months for a knee, and with theirs, it took more like a year just because of the lack of being able to work out with our training staff and our strength staff like they wanted to.”
One of three 757 natives who play prominent roles for UNC (2-0, 2-0), Kelly is in good company on the Tar Heels’ depth chart. Hampton High alum Dazz Newsome is UNC’s most accomplished receiving target and Princess Anne graduate Tony Grimes is a true freshman who’s third at one of the cornerback positions.
Kelly, who said his sister and mom are doing better with ailments he prefers to keep private, but added their medical issues are ongoing, knows there are bragging rights on the line with people he’ll cross paths with again.
“I know down (at UNC), for the 757 guys like me, Dazz and Tony, this game really does mean a lot to us because Virginia is home and you don’t want to lose, then come back to Virginia and they have the upper hand on you,” Kelly said.
“We’re going to come out there swinging, play hard, play physical and create an edge.”