College football is full of stories of players who came up from nothing and made themselves into stars. Their stories transcend the sport, teaching a lesson about life, perseverance and the power of the human spirit.

Some come from tough upbringings to make their dreams come true. Others do whatever they need to do to make sure their dream doesn’t die.

For one ASU graduate assistant, he couldn’t let the game go. It meant too much and he would do whatever he needed to do in order to make it a reality.

Nick Kelly’s high school recruitment was anything but a high-profile affair. A self-described “zero-star recruit,” a few Division II schools came to look at him and one – Humboldt State – offered. Kelly was so excited by the prospect of continuing to play football, he committed instantly.

Meanwhile, he was training with a program called Linemen Win Games (LWG), a training program for offensive and defensive linemen based out of American River College in Sacramento, Calif. Kelly soon bonded with LWG coach Jon Osterhout who was also the offensive line coach at American River College. Soon, Kelly was faced with a difficult decision.

“(Osterhout) helped me, I realized I could play at the (Division I) level,” Kelly said. “So I called up Humboldt and decommitted, went to American River College…ended up getting a DI scholarship offer my first week of the season.”

Wyoming was that first offer but there were other DI offers that would soon follow, but the one that would capture his heart had yet to reveal itself.

ASU coach Bob Connelly, the offensive line coach at the time, stopped by American River to check out Kelly’s teammate at left tackle, but Osterhout, not one to miss an opportunity, introduced Kelly to Connelly. Kelly gave Connelly his film to check out and Kelly said he didn’t expect much of it, just happy to give a Pac-12 coach his film and hope for the best.

While on a trip to Reno, Nev. Kelly received a phone call from a 480 area code. On the other end was Connelly with an offer Kelly couldn’t help but jump at, a chance to visit ASU.

“’Yeah I’ll come!’” Kelly recalled telling Connelly. “Came on my visit, loved it…and from then on I just loved the school, loved the atmosphere, loved the players, loved the coaches and I committed right when they offered me. I was too ecstatic.”

Kelly joined the program in 2013 as a sophomore and was a two-year starter in 2014 and 2015, earning second-team All-Pac-12 honors in 2014 and was a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic second team member in 2014 and 2015.

But at the end of his senior season in 2015, Kelly was once again faced with a choice of what to do next. He’d already made one improbable jump to playing college football from junior college, maybe he could do it again.

Kelly took his chances and ended up in two NFL mini camps, one with the New Orleans Saints and one with the Minnesota Vikings, but Kelly didn’t catch on with either organization.

Once again his football future seemed in doubt. But, just as it seemed football was done with Kelly, a friendly and familiar face extended an offer to keep the dream alive.

“I approached him. I told him a long time ago I thought he had all the traits to be a really good coach,” said ASU offensive line coach Chris Thomsen. “Once the NFL route didn’t play out for him I said ‘Hey, you’ve got the opportunity here for you if you want it,’ and he jumped on it and I’m glad he’s here.”

Thomsen, of anyone, probably knows Kelly best. He coached Kelly from JUCO transfer to an All-Pac-12 player and knows the traits that made Kelly an anchor at the center position translate to being a coach as well.

But being a coach has taken some time for Kelly to get used to. Kelly admitted it was strange the first couple of times he walked out to the practice fields in a T-shirt and shorts instead of a helmet and pads.

Stranger yet for Kelly was having to coach some of the linemen he used played alongside.

But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing.

“I like it,” redshirt senior left tackle Evan Goodman said. “(Nick) has been around almost as long as I have. He’s good person, I can go and talk to him and, since he played in the Pac-12, he knows what I’m talking about when I say certain things when I come to the sidelines.”

But for other players, like redshirt freshman Steve Miller, Kelly’s new role took a bit of getting used to.

“I didn’t know what he was doing,” Miller said. “But then coach Thomsen told us Nick was going to come coach with us so it’s a good experience to have somebody that was a player and has been on the other side...it’s good to have a coach that has been in the fire and in the heat of battle and they did it recently.”

As the players learn more about the new Coach Kelly, Kelly is continuing to learn more about the game of football as a whole.

Before he only really needed to know the defensive fronts and communicate what the opposing front seven was doing. Now, he has had to learn some more foreign concepts like coverages and secondary alignments, things that before he never needed to understand.

“I think the thing I might be struggling with a bit is just the whole game,” Kelly said. “the different coverages because as a lineman I never needed to know coverages I didn’t need to know what the free safety was doing or anything but I’m starting to pick it up, starting to learn it slowly but hopefully in the next couple of years I can have a really good understanding where I can make good calls against defensive fronts and stuff like that.”

And this year so far has been a good one for Kelly to learn from because it has even presented a seasoned, experienced coach like Thomsen some headaches. Injuries have plagued the offensive line, forcing Thomsen and Kelly and the rest of the offensive staff to make adjustments on the fly and roll out new combinations seemingly every week for the last few weeks.

But it’s a good chance for Kelly to learn because it doesn’t get much more difficult than what the Sun Devils are already facing.

“It’s been one of the more…unsettled years in terms of guys being in one spot and staying there, it’s been a lot of flux,” Thomsen said. “So he’s been able to see how guys like Quinn Bailey who can play multiple positions can help when you have lineup changes.”

Changes, and challenges have been a constant for Kelly throughout his career. It’s been one full of twists and turns and unforeseen hurdles but he has cherished every one.

He isn’t sure yet what his next step is after his time as a graduate assistant ends. Kelly said he wants to be a college coach but, as for now, he’s playing everything by ear, taking it one step at a time.

Because, as has been a staple of his journey, the next step isn’t clear but like making a lane for a running back, Kelly will clear his own path out for himself yet.