Even with an extensive list of high school accolades and unrivaled local name recognition, Todd Kelly Jr. knew nothing was guaranteed.

So when the former Webb School of Knoxville standout dug his cleats into the Haslam Field grass for football practice number one as a Tennessee freshman, he didn’t wait around.

“The first day,” Kelly Jr. said Monday, “I got a pass-breakup in the first (skeleton drill) of my practice, and that kind of got my confidence up. Just knowing that I’m able to make plays. A lot of freshmen are out here making plays, and that’s what you come out here to do. If you don’t make plays, you don’t get on the field.”

So far this hasn’t been an issue. With training camp officially concluded and less than two weeks remaining until the Vols’ season-opener, the 6-foot, 203 pound defensive back is in contention for a starting safety spot opposite redshirt junior, Brian Randolph.

And with a supporting parental staff that includes his father, Todd Kelly Sr., a former UT defensive star and first-round draft pick of the San Francisco 49ers, and mother, Renee, who currently serves as principal of Knoxville’s West Valley Middle School, Kelly Jr. has transitioned smoothly into an integral role for 2014.

“I take pride in thanking both of my parents for just raising me to become the man that I am today,” Kelly Jr. said, who had his black stripe removed Monday. “Just to stay encouraged and stay focused on taking one day at a time and not to get so down on myself. I’ve seen them struggle, and they’ve gone through it. And they both had successful careers, and I want to do the same.”

But the family support doesn’t stop there, he said.

There’s still one more Kelly chocked full of advice for the young freshman.

“My sister has been through college and had the same experience,” Kelly Jr. said, whose sister, Clarke, is a senior cheerleader at the University of Alabama. “She was an athlete as well, so she talked to me as well. So you just have to take it day by day, and when you make a mistake, you have to bounce back and have short-term memory.”

For Kelly Jr., though, his football resumé hardly bears any flaws. In 2013, while directing his Spartans to a fourth Division II-A State Championship in five seasons, Kelly Jr. was named the Tennessee Gatorade State Player of the Year and a U.S. Army All-American Bowl selection.

As a two-way threat throughout his entire senior campaign, Kelly Jr. scampered for 1,014 rushing yards and 23 total touchdowns as the centerpiece of Webb’s trademark Wing-T offense. On defense, as a top 15 nationally ranked safety all across the recruiting board, the Knoxville native racked up 53 tackles, an attribute that’s firmly translated to the college gridiron.

“With TK, the game is slowing down, and he’s been a sure tackler,” Jones said. “He’s played physical. We’ve pointed out that developing a team is about practicing etiquette: how you thud, how you tag off. We keep going back to illustrations of how you thud, and it’s always TK.”

For Kelly Jr., though, the intense dedication to takedown perfection is no foreign subject as the first-year safety stressed that proper tackling technique is “something he has always focused on.”

And in the SEC, a conference Kelly Jr. labels “the most physical in the country,” where the practices are “more intense than high school games,” the hard-hitting 18-year-old knows success will come by emulating some of the fiercest safeties who currently roam NFL secondaries.

“To be a good defensive back— Eric Berry, Kam Chancellor, guys like that — they know how to tackle in the open field,” Kelly Jr. said. “So you just have to focus on your keys, have the right technique to bring those guys down, and now that I’m up to the college level it’s a lot harder to tackle these big and fast backs.

“But as long as you focus on your techniques and go full speed, you’re probably going to bring them down.”