Shrine All-Star game: Central valedictorian heading to Howard

EUREKA, IL — Travis Kellum of Peoria Central High will play in the 37th annual Shrine All-Star football game Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Peoria Stadium. In a few weeks he’ll head to Howard University, in Washington, D.C., with the opportunity to walk on the Division I-AA football program. A year ago today he had yet to play his first game of high school football.

“All through high school the coaches were always trying to get me to come out for football,” said Kellum, also a four-year basketball player at Central. “With the merging of (Central and Woodruff) last year, I thought it might be the right time to give football a shot.”


Travis Kellum (#42) will be a football "preferred walk-on" at Howard. The Peoria Central (IL) High School valedictorian is planning to major in mechanical engineering at the Mecca.

A 6-foot-5, 255-pound defensive end, Kellum ended up all-area with the Journal Star and first-team all-conference in the Mid-State 6. He set an unofficial state record with 6½ sacks in a win over Rock Falls. "When I look back, the whole thing was like a dream," he said.

What got him into Howard, however, was his 4.0 grade point average. Kellum was Central’s 2011 valedictorian.  “I’m definitely going to Howard for academics,” he said. “At first I thought I would try to walk on with the basketball team. Now I’m going to try and walk on in football.”

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