Jason Kelce

Jason D. Kelce (/ˈkɛlˌsiː/; born November 5, 1987) is an American football center for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Eagles in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football at Cincinnati.

Early life

Kelce grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, the son of Ed, a sales rep in the steel business, and Donna, who works in banking. He attended Cleveland Heights High School, where he played both running back and linebacker and was twice named All-Lake Erie-Lake League.

College career

A former walk-on linebacker, Kelce switched to offensive line after redshirting his initial year at Cincinnati, seeing action at center and guard in nine games in 2007 as the Bearcats went 10-3 and defeated Southern Mississippi 31-21 in the PapaJohns.com Bowl.

As a sophomore in 2008, he made 13 starts at left guard, as part of an offensive line that also included future NFL linemen Jeff Linkenbach and Trevor Canfield, which helped the UC offense average 27.3 points and 375.3 yards of total offense per game. The Bearcats went 11-3 overall, were Big East champions, and played in the FedEx Orange Bowl, where the Bearcats fell to Virginia Tech 20-7.