TENNESSEE VOLS FOOTBALL: Kell made an impact as undersized offensive lineman

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While several colleges courted his 6-foot, 225-pound kid, Chip Kell’s father wanted no favors. 

“Dad said I should accept no gifts,” Kell recalled. “He said he would not sell his son. I admired his integrity. There went the Corvette.”

The Decatur Ga., two-sport stud, already lifting 400 pounds by his senior year, competed in football and track and field at Avondale High School, where he set an all-classifications state record by tossing 66 feet, 7 inches in the shot put. 

Tennessee track coach Chuck Rohe scouted Kell as a future star and pointed Vols football coach Doug Dickey to Kell’s potential on the field. The tip saved Rohe from burning a track scholarship and ultimately enticed Kell to commit as a dual athlete in the 1966–67 recruiting class.

Wearing No. 50, Kell played his first varsity season in at center, earning First-Team All-SEC honors as the Vols went 8-2-1. At that time, he was the first sophomore lineman in 25 years to receive All-SEC recognition. 

Switching to guard his junior year, Kell played in 10 games, leading the Vols (9-2) to an SEC championship while snagging First-Team All-America, First-Team All-SEC and his first of two consecutive Jacobs Trophies, reserved for the most outstanding lineman in the conference.

In 1970, Kell helped Tennessee rush for 2,365 yards, the program’s highest total since 1951 at that time, and contributed to the team’s 1,996 yards of passing, the most in school history at that time. A finalist for the Lombardi Trophy, he was designated First-Team All-America as a unanimous pick. 

UT finished 11-1 Kell’s senior season, with a win over Air Force in the Sugar Bowl and a fourth-place national ranking. 

The San Diego Chargers drafted Kell in the 17th round of the 1971 NFL draft, though he opted instead to play two seasons for Edmonton in the Canadian Football League. Following his retirement as a player, Kell continued with a career in coaching and education. 

Kell was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (2006) and Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame (2009). He died May 25, 2024, in Cohutta, Ga., at 75.

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