Former Arkansas teammates Cole Kelley and Blake Kern connected for a 47-yard touchdown at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night.
Kern’s touchdown reception with 1:04 remaining in the third quarter helped spark a comeback for the National team in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. The National team won 25-24.
Falling backward, Kern, a tight end, caught a seam pass about 25 yards downfield from Kelley. Playing by NFL rules that require a player to be touched down for a play to be blown dead, Kern got up with multiple defenders around him and ran the final 20 yards to the end zone.
“He told me, ‘Man, you run the route and I’ll put the ball on you,’” Kern said. “I just made the play when I got the opportunity to. It was awesome getting to make that play.
“You want to make plays whenever your name is called, whether it be in practice or in a game. I think anything you take advantage of is putting something on film that adds to your toolbox.”
Kern and Kelley arrived at Arkansas together in 2016.
“In a game we never did get to hook up, so it was awesome to do that all these years later,” Kern said.
Kelley, who transferred from Arkansas to Southeastern Louisiana following the 2018 season, was MVP of the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, a senior all-star game that has been played in the Los Angeles area the past 10 years, including the last five games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Kelley completed 12 of 17 passes for 150 yards. He led the National team on a game-winning 7-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in the closing minutes.
After Coastal Carolina running back Shermari Jones scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 3:47 to play, Kelley connected with Indiana tight end Peyton Hendershot for the go-ahead two-point conversion.
American team kicker James McCourt of Illinois missed a field goal as time expired. The American team led 17-3 in the third quarter.
“I really don’t like to talk about myself, but I do put in the work and prepare my butt off and it shows on the field,” Kelley said on NFL Network’s broadcast of the game. “I’ll keep it at that.”
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Kelley won the Walter Payton Award as the 2020 offensive player of the year in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision and was a finalist for the award in 2021.
In three years at Southeastern Louisiana, Kelley passed for 7,112 yards and 59 touchdowns, and was intercepted 12 times. He accounted for 31 other touchdowns rushing and receiving.
“He throws the ball really well,” Kern said. “This week has been fun to see him and how he’s progressed….He’s just the same Cole that I remember character-wise.”
Kern and Kelley were among five former Arkansas players who played in the game. Linebacker Grant Morgan recorded four tackles for the National team, and defensive end Tre Williams and receiver Michael Woods played without recording stats.
Woods transferred to Oklahoma prior to the 2021 season.
The game was a culmination of what Kern described as a productive week of workouts in his first trip to California. The Lamar native caught 15 passes for 183 yards and 2 touchdowns in his final season at Arkansas in 2021, including a 32-yard touchdown at Alabama.
“I spoke with teams and scouts early in the week,” Kern said. “They left out Thursday, but before then it was busy days; pretty much from daylight until dark you were doing something. I got to talk to a pretty good number of teams while I’ve been here, so that’s been a pretty good opportunity.”
Kern said he will return to Arkansas to train in preparation for the Razorbacks’ Pro Day in March.