One of the highest honors any high school athlete can earn is the status of All-American.
Many players will earn All-District, All Region and even All State. All-American though... that is rare. But it is something that Oklahoma State defensive line signee Aden Kelley can say he earned for the rest of his life.
It is reported by statista that there is just around 1 million high school football players in America. There exactly 100 All-Americans selected.
That is an insanely low .0001% of players selected.
Aden has known for a couple months now that he was named an All-American but due to COVID and the actual game being canceled, they had to resort to a virtual ceremony. I spoke with Aden shortly after his ceremony was shown about what it was like to officially be given this honor.
“The reason it is so important to me is because this is something that can never be taken away from me.”
One of the main storylines the All American bowl staff talked about online was how far Aden Kelley has come in his process and how fast his rise has been. “It’s crazy how things work. A year ago today, I was going to bed waking up for Christmas Eve, I had no clue. I was just another guy going through school. I had no idea that any of this would ever happen.”
Aden’s high school career is now over and he will begin preparing for his summer enrollment. He told me “I’m just gonna work my butt off to be the biggest, strongest, fastest I can be when I walk in there and then get in that Coach Glass program and then just explode.”
Oklahoma State has had some solid interior defensive lineman in recent years but there is no arguing that Aden Kelley is the most talented out of the group coming into college. He is already dominant but once Rob Glass gets a summer with him and a full season of learning and experience, Aden Kelley is primed to be a bonafide star. And it is not hard to imagine him not only being a high school All American, but a college one as well.
