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Get To Know Your Orange Man - #18 S Darius Kelly

Moving right along, we're getting to know Syracuse Safety, Darius Kelly.

By Lisa Nelson
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Name: Darius Kelly

Position: Sort-of-Strong-yet-Free Safety (Worst kept secret ever: I'm not as smart about football as I am about basketball. I do lots of research for you guys and I'm learning at lightning speed, but I get confused when the current depth chart and the roster don't match up. What's THAT about?)

Year: Senior

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 195

Hometown: Sierra Vista, AZ

High School: Buena Vista

2013 Stats: In his first year with the Orange, Kelly had 44 (!!) tackles, 30 of which were unassisted. He also blocked a punt against Tulane (see highlights below).

2014 Projections: Syracuse's secondary struggled a bit last season, but the Orange only lost one player (Keon Lyn). So, with a year of experience under their belts, expect improvement from everyone. There may also be some shuffling around, depending on injuries, which could mean Kelly sees minutes at both safety positions.

How'd He Get Here: By way of Pima Community College, first. Then, this JUCO addition chose Syracuse over Arizona, Utah, Utah State, and Marshall.

What'd Recruiting Sites Say: Two stars from Rivals, and three from everyone else.

Money Quote:

Links Of Wonder: Orange Fizz had a nice chat with Darius before the Boston College game last year. Read it.

Twitterfeed: @D_kellyCuse

Tweets Of Wonder: Aww.

What Does Shafer Think Of Him: Just before the season started last year, he said,

Darius has gotten better every day as he's learned the system. We feel comfortable playing him at the one safety position as well as he'll have a big hand in the kicking game.

Interesting Nugget O'Interest: Kelly was the one to break the news about Shafer becoming Syracuse's next head football coach.

Let's Get A Good Look Atcha:

(Via ACC Digital Network)

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