“It’s awesome because I can turn it on and it feels like I’m back in college hanging out with them,” mentioned Craig Carey, a longtime pal and former teammate of each. “I’m not surprised at how successful it is because I lived it.”
The Kelce brothers grew up collectively in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, lower than two years aside in age. But the seeds of their already legendary NFL careers have been planted at the University of Cincinnati, the place the 2 grew to become college teammates and roommates. And the place they cemented the distinctive brotherly bond that may perpetually influence their shared futures, on the sector and off.
Travis, left, and Jason Kelce have been largely unheralded popping out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. (Courtesy of Cincinnati athletics)
Jason and Travis arrived at Cincinnati in 2006 and 2008, respectively. Both have been largely unheralded prospects popping out of highschool, Jason particularly, however the outsized personalities which have been on show lately have been evident to these current again then.
“Those two, it was just insane. Like, holy s—, these guys are crazy,” mentioned Tom DeTemple, a pal and college teammate with the Bearcats. “Those two are really good at drinking beer. They used to love playing Nintendo 64 for hours, smashing the controls and chugging beers at the same time. They would just come up with these random drinking games while playing, and they were incredibly good at it.”
Each had their very own distinct traits — Jason wore flip flops and listened to nation music, Travis was into style and hip hop — and there was a transparent huge brother/little brother dynamic between the 2. But each have been outgoing and participating in ways in which drew others to them and drew them to one another, significantly on the identical college campus, whether or not at a home occasion or throwing darts within the again nook of a bar known as Uncle Woody’s.
“They are both people persons,” mentioned Reuben Johnson, one other mutual pal and former teammate. “They love people, people love them. They have that energy.”
That vitality prolonged to the soccer subject as effectively, the place Jason and Travis burnished the aggressive, tough-nosed reputations that helped develop them into NFL Draft picks.
“Both of them, when you put the ball down and it was time to play, rabid competitors,” mentioned former Bearcats receiver Armon Binns.
Yet it was the relative obscurity of a nasty, romp-filled college home — the place the 2 spent a 12 months unexpectedly sharing the identical bed room — that helped lay the groundwork for a lot of what adopted: Super Bowl rings, Hall of Fame resumes, that wildly standard podcast and their culture-spanning stardom.
Following a playoff loss Monday night time, it was reported that Jason Kelce knowledgeable teammates he plans to retire after 13 seasons and six All-Pro nominations with the Philadelphia Eagles. Travis and the Kansas City Chiefs play Sunday at Buffalo within the divisional spherical.
The Athletic spoke with greater than fifteen of the Kelces’ former Bearcats teammates, coaches and roommates to reminisce about their stint at Cincinnati and its ongoing affect.
Also, the beer. So a lot beer.
The Kelces’ college careers coincided with the rise of Bearcats soccer, which received at least a share of the Big East championship in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012 and reached back-to-back BCS bowls in 2008 and 2009.
Jason arrived at Cincinnati in 2006 as a walk-on linebacker. After a redshirt season during which he earned the scout crew defensive participant of the 12 months award, Jason switched to offensive line underneath new head coach Brian Kelly in 2007, the place he grew to become a multi-year starter and all-conference honoree.
Isaiah Pead (Cincinnati working again, 2008-11): It was Big Kelc. The youthful guys didn’t name him Jason.
Craig Carey (Cincinnati linebacker, 2005-09): We have been having a celebration after one of many video games and Jason was a bit of bit inebriated, let’s say, and he ripped the sink out of the wall in one of many bogs. And everyone was like, “What the hell? Who is this guy? This walk-on just ripped the freaking sink out of the wall.”
Pead: He was an animal.
Carey: That’s how everyone knew him after that. Holy s—, this dude is nuts.
Reuben Johnson (Cincinnati cornerback, 2009-11): I simply keep in mind how fiery he was (on the sector). Tight shirt, abdomen out, bunch of physique hair, drooling, sliming at the mouth, very intense.
Jason Kelce went from walk-on linebacker to star offensive lineman. (Courtesy of Cincinnati athletics)
Pead: Every time you noticed him, he was on. It was a lot, it was like, “Man, Big Kelc, are you always like this?”
Craig Parmenter (Cincinnati offensive lineman, 2007-10): Don’t poke the bear.
Reuben Johnson: We have been in offense vs. protection (drills) and we have been presupposed to be in thud, so all it took was for one man to go more durable than he ought to, as a result of nobody was supposed to the touch the bottom.
Tom DeTemple (Cincinnati lengthy snapper, 2007-11): You see this huge scuffle go down and hastily you simply see anyone’s helmet get ripped off, and Jason begins spinning round with the helmet in his hand and shot-putted it 15 rows deep into the stadium.
Carey: He completely chucked that helmet.
Reuben Johnson: That was sort of the lion roaring. That set the tone.
Evan Davis (Cincinnati offensive lineman 2008-11): Jason appears for any and each alternative to stir the pot and get anyone going.
Armon Binns (Cincinnati large receiver, 2007-10): Everybody knew Jason, everybody revered the best way he performed.
Butch Jones (Cincinnati head coach, 2010-12): We have been so aggressive. The method we practiced, our effort, our mentality, our toughness — we have been an especially gritty soccer crew, and quite a lot of that stemmed from Jason.
Parmenter: The factor with Jason, even off the sector, if he finds one thing he likes, he’s decided to be one of the best at it.
Alex Hoffman (Cincinnati offensive lineman, 2007-11): Good guitar participant, hell yeah. Good singer. He might choose up songs by ear and play them.
Parmenter: I couldn’t play Mario Kart in opposition to Jason as a result of he was so godd— good at it.
Carey: He was clearly undersized as a participant, however you could possibly see how athletic he was and the best way he moved in comparison with different linemen round him.
Reuben Johnson: Jason was pulling at middle (as a run blocker). That’s once I realized this man will not be regular.
Binns: He’s like 285, 290 kilos, and we exit to do sprints at apply and he’s beating all of the ability gamers. It’s ridiculous what sort of athlete he was.
Jones: Just as spectacular is how cerebral he’s.
Hoffman: He was on a weight-gain food plan. We would make enjoyable of Jason for being huge, having lengthy hair, consuming on a regular basis. He would at all times go to sleep whereas consuming so we’d roast him for that.
DeTemple: I feel it was St. Patrick’s Day. We’re preparing for spring apply and he goes and will get a Gatorade bottle and fills it up with Jameson. He places a factor of tape round it and offers it to one of many water women and says: “Do not give this to anybody but me.”
Hoffman: All he cared about was taking part in soccer and having a very good time.
Greg Forest (Cincinnati quarterbacks coach, 2007-09): I’d at all times say that after he received carried out taking part in, Jason was going to be in WWE.
Reuben Johnson: What made Jason so nice is that he’s a live-in-the-moment man. Whatever that second requires, that’s the place he lives, that’s what he offers you.
Travis adopted his older brother two years later, becoming a member of the Bearcats in 2008 as a 6-foot-6, two-star quarterback who additionally had scholarship presents to play Division I basketball. He noticed the sector as a wildcat quarterback as a redshirt freshman in 2009 earlier than finally shifting to tight finish.
Tony Pike (Cincinnati quarterback, 2005-09): The brilliance of Travis is actually who he’s: It’s his persona. He was so freaking humorous, man.
Forest: He simply likes to have enjoyable greater than something.
Zach Collaros (Cincinnati quarterback, 2007-11): For some purpose, my dumbass left the payments as much as him, so I’d pay him money to pay the payments. One day we got here house and the lights have been all off. I’m like, “Yo, man. What’s going on?” He was like: “Yeah, I forgot.” We simply didn’t have electrical energy for like three nights.
Sherry Murray (Cincinnati soccer workplace administrator, 2010-present): We at all times had the ladies’s Football 101, which was a fundraiser for breast most cancers, and we’d do a participant style present as a part of it. Travis, when it was his flip, he determined to strip at the highest of the runway and walked down in his underwear, these compression shorts. So in fact all 300 of those middle-aged girls are hooting and hollering and carrying on. We determined that is likely to be a very good time to finish the style present portion of this program.
Collaros: One Thanksgiving we simply went and received two rotisserie chickens and we sat there and drank a 40 of Miller Lite and performed NBA 2K.
Greg Davis (Evan’s dad): Always a jokester, at all times a comic book. We have been down at Party Source shopping for some stuff for the weekend and right here comes Travis across the nook with a sombrero on, driving an electrical purchasing cart. And it’s crammed, stuff piling out of the basket.
Evan Davis: He’s not scared to speak to anyone, he pertains to everyone, he’s personable. It’s one factor to be all of these issues, however you continue to should exit and take a danger, and that’s Travis.
Travis Kelce, No. 18, and teammates have a good time defeating Duke within the Belk Bowl in 2012. (Brian Westerholt / Sports On Film / Cincinnati athletics)
Collaros: I’d at all times say to him: “Walk with your shoulders back. You’re the man.”
Reuben Johnson: Trav was cool, man. He was at all times trendy, at all times into style, at all times had the brand new sneakers.
Evan Davis: Playing pick-up basketball video games and seeing him throw down dunks, you knew he had the athletic skill.
Reuben Johnson: He was catching dunks off the backboard. I’m in disbelief, like, “Who the hell is this White boy?”
Binns: He’d be cooking everyone. Guys who really performed basketball at UC would come play with us and Travis was giving them buckets, speaking trash.
GO DEEPER
A tour via Travis Kelce’s baseball period
Mark Elder (Cincinnati assistant coach 2010-12): He’s not a wound-tight sort of man. Travis did what he wanted to do within the classroom and assembly room, however I at all times had an unbelievable quantity of respect for the way arduous he went in apply. It was just like the Super Bowl day-after-day.
Jones: Probably 9 occasions throughout Travis’s final season the officers would tell me earlier than the sport to verify we managed No. 18 as a result of he likes to play to the echo of the whistle. I’d simply smile, as a result of I knew we had already intimidated our opponent.
Dave Johnson (Cincinnati tight ends coach, 2011-12): He understood coverages, possibly from his expertise as a quarterback. He understood route-running, the place to seek out open voids, separate and create house. He had a really excessive soccer intelligence.
Carey: He had one other gear on the sector. He had that (83-yard landing) within the Belk Bowl the place he simply ran away from the secondary.
Elder: That was the dichotomy of Travis: He was maddening in some methods, besides when it got here to what mattered most, which was taking part in ball.
Reuben Johnson: He wished the highlight. He looked for the highlight. He was at all times like that. The second was by no means too huge for him.
Jason lived at 127 W. Nixon Street, an off-campus home he shared with a handful of teammates that he as soon as described as a “real life Animal House.”
If partitions might discuss, the home, proven because it appears in January 2024, that the Kelces shared in college would have some stories. (Justin Williams / The Athletic)
DeTemple: That home was extremely legendary. There was … simply … yeah. So many gross individuals in there.
Parmenter (housemate): That home might have been a sitcom.
Evan Davis (housemate): My dad and mom owned the home.
Greg Davis (house owner): Those guys have been absolute pigs. They had a large outside rubbish can sitting in the midst of the widespread dwelling space, and it was stacked 2 ft out of the highest of the can with pizza packing containers.
Hoffman (housemate): You would need to throw up if you happen to walked in our home.
Collaros (housemate): Our entrance door was damaged as effectively. People might simply stroll in and out of it. Very unusual.
Hoffman: Jason was often the ringleader. He would sit there in his T-shirt and shorts in the lounge with his guitar, watching “Trailer Park Boys” or “South Park” or — what was the Kenny Powers present? “Eastbound & Down,” yeah. And we’d return and forth at one another.
Collaros: When LeBron switched (from Cleveland to Miami), they wished to kill me. Kill me. Jason and Travis have been Cavs followers. When (LeBron) mentioned, “I’m taking my talents to South Beach,” I began chirping them so arduous. I keep in mind Jason’s actual quote: “If you say another f—ing word, I’m going to kill you.”
Carey: We have been at all times chirping at one another and making enjoyable of one another.
Collaros: We’re all nonetheless finest associates. My spouse doesn’t get it.
In 2010, Travis, a redshirt sophomore, was suspended by the NCAA for a full season due to a failed marijuana drug check, one thing he’s since spoken about publicly. New head coach Butch Jones revoked Travis’s scholarship consequently, however Jason went to Jones and advocated to maintain Travis in this system.
Part of Jason’s petition? Moving Travis into his bed room at 127 W. Nixon Street.
Jones: Jason mentioned, “We want to get Trav right, and he’s going to come live with us.”
Hoffman: We didn’t even give it some thought: “Just have him move in here.”
Carey: I keep in mind strolling into that home and going into Jason’s room and Travis was sitting on the mattress, and there are two beds within the room. I’m like, “What the hell are you doing?” and he’s like, “I’m just chilling.”
Hoffman: It was the nastiest room in the home.
Collaros: My mother visited one time. This was when Travis was suspended. She doesn’t like going to the video games so she simply stayed behind and cleaned the home, which is a narrative in and of itself. She smells one thing and walks downstairs within the basement and it’s Trav — smoking a joint. She goes: “Travis, aren’t you suspended for this?!?” He goes: “Hey Momma Collaros, it’s all right. When are we going to the game?” And they walked to the sport collectively.
DeTemple: One time we went out and received some meals and got here again and the home smelled like weed. We’re all sort of trying round like, “Who’s smoking in here?”
Collaros: Travis was developing from the basement and he simply sort of regarded down the hallway like, “Oh shit,” and then ran.
DeTemple: They had that industrial trash can in there.
Collaros: Jason took the highest of the metallic rubbish can and he simply threw it at Travis, like he was Oscar the Grouch.
Evan Davis: Travis went in and locked himself of their bed room and then of their toilet, so a part of the hallway wall was on the opposite aspect of the toilet. So Jason punched via it, missed the studs and went straight via each items of drywall into the toilet.
Parmenter: It was a gaping gap. You might match an average-sized particular person via it.
Collaros: I used to be identical to, “Jesus Christ, dude! Did you just break your hand?” He’s like, “Nah, I’m good,” and then sits down and begins consuming a Chipotle burrito.
DeTemple: He was like, “Yeah, I b—-ed him out,” and that was it.
Carey: Evan patched that gap up himself so his dad and mom wouldn’t discover out about it.
Collaros: Jason feels issues deeper than anyone I’ve ever actually met. He’s at all times had that relationship with Travis.
Reuben Johnson: I feel Jason knew that the second Travis began taking it critical, he might turn into one thing particular.
Hoffman: Travis didn’t need to disappoint Jason. He knew that Jason caught his neck out for him.
Travis Kelce (Super Bowl media days, 2023): He was my lifeline.
Jason Kelce (Super Bowl media days, 2023): We really do imagine in one another. We at all times have.
The brothers have continued an in depth relationship as they moved on to the NFL. (Courtesy of Cincinnati Athletics)
Hoffman: Butch noticed the expertise Travis had, however the truth that Travis knew that Jason and all of us caught up for him, there was a part of Travis that wished to show himself. It introduced one of the best out of him. Travis actually turned it up within the weight room that 12 months, and all of that stuff actually morphed him.
Travis Kelce (Super Bowl media days, 2023): When I say I owe all of it to (Jason), I actually do.
Jones: If you discuss love from a giant brother and respect from a bit of brother, these two outlined that relationship.
Reuben Johnson: When you look again, there wouldn’t be no Travis Kelce with out that 12 months. That was a turning level. He went from being a humorous man to being a pacesetter. He lastly put the whole lot collectively.
Hoffman: By the time he graduated, he was a special particular person. That maturity in Travis was large, and that’s the 12 months it clicked for him.
Jones: I at all times have a gaggle of retired, ex-Navy Seals are available through the offseason and practice the crew in shared aggravating conditions, underneath duress, management coaching. His final 12 months, I’ll always remember, in our debrief they advised me the chief of the crew was Travis Kelce. I mentioned, “What?” They mentioned Travis has affect, and the gamers comply with him.
Elder: He was a implausible teammate. He had the crew within the palm of his fingers due to who he was, simply so real.
Jason was drafted by the Eagles within the sixth spherical of the 2011 NFL Draft. Travis was chosen by the Chiefs within the third spherical of the 2013 NFL Draft. The two have mixed for 13 All-Pro honors, 16 Pro Bowl choices and three Super Bowl titles.
Reuben Johnson: They haven’t modified one bit.
Hoffman: My spouse and I went to remain at Jason’s penthouse in Philly. This was earlier than he met Kylie. My spouse and I have been sleeping on his sofa and he simply had undeposited paychecks laying round. Like $50,000 between just a few checks, and he was like, “Eh, I haven’t gotten around to them yet.” That simply defines Jason. He doesn’t care concerning the cash.
Carey: Jason was in my wedding ceremony and Travis got here to it, and I keep in mind once we have been sending out invites I advised my spouse, “We’re not wasting postage on him.” I simply known as Travis and advised him the date.
Hoffman: Yup, that’s what I did too.
DeTemple: Those two, they don’t plan forward. A pair years in the past, they have been supposed to come back to city for Travis to stroll at commencement at Cincinnati, as a result of he lastly received his diploma. His mother and dad have been going to be there, the whole lot. Of course, Travis and Jason don’t present up. Jason’s aspect of the story was that he known as Travis, and Travis advised him he missed the flight and wasn’t going to be there. Jason was at the airport, prepared to come back to Cincinnati for it, and he mentioned he simply received in an Uber and went again house. If Travis isn’t going, I’m not going both. Meanwhile the college is ready for them to point out up, most likely had all this s— ready for it. … (But) they’re simply so humorous and enjoyable loving you’re like, all proper, no matter. They win you proper again over.
Hoffman: That’s what made all of it so cool. We all had that household mentality. I contemplate them household.
Carey: Two of probably the most real individuals you’ll ever come throughout. It permeates these round them. Everyone else is attending to see what all of us already knew.
Jones: Those two imply the whole lot to me. There are sure individuals who come alongside in your teaching profession who actually outline why you do it. Jason and Travis Kelce are the rationale why I do what I do.
GO DEEPER
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(Top picture: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Photos: Streeter Lecka / Getty Images, Courtesy of Cincinnati Athletics)
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