MOBILE, Ala. ? University of South Alabama head men’s golf coach Ben Hannan announced Wednesday that Blake Kelley has signed a National Letter-of-Intent and will join the program in the fall.  He will have four years of eligibility.

A 5-foot-10, 150-pound native of Mandeville, La., Kelley is ranked second in the state in the class of 2009.  Since posting a top-20 finish for Mandeville High at the 2008 state championships in April, he has recorded eight top-10 performances.   That includes a current string of four in a row as Kelley won the Arrowhead Junior Golf Tour Junior Masters last month by three strokes after firing a 70 in the final round.  He used a 69 over the last 18 holes two weeks earlier to come in second at the Copper Mill Junior Classic after opening the year with a fourth-place finish out of a field including 110 players at the Beau Chene High School Invitational.

Kelley’s strong start to the year came on the heels of a third-place effort at the Southeastern Junior Golf Tour’s Rock Creek Junior Classic to close out the 2008 campaign.

Last summer Kelley posted a 64 in the second round to finish second out of 78 players at the PGA Junior Series held at Penn State, which came two weeks after he carded a final-round 65 to come in third at the Gulf States Junior PGA Championship.

“I’ve been recruiting Blake for over a year now,” commented Hannan.  “Mechanically he’s a very sound player, and he has shown the ability in national tournaments to shoot low numbers.  When he gets it going, it’s very exciting to watch.”

He joins McLain Leberte (pronounced leh-BERT), a senior at Huntsville High School, who inked with the Jaguars in November.

The Jags are slated to compete at the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Houston, Texas, beginning Monday.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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