Travis Kelce: The Complete Transformation Of The Kansas City Chiefs Player

Travis Kelce’s decision about where to go to college was easy; as was his nature, he followed Jason Kelce. Travis continued playing quarterback at the University of Cincinnati, but after his redshirt freshman year, he lost the starting quarterback position to another player in 2009. So, he wasn’t exactly the team’s MVP when he tested positive for marijuana. He lost his scholarship over the failed drug test, along with his reason for being in Cincinnati.

Instead of going home to lick his wounds, Travis moved in with Jason. “I wasn’t paying rent, he was helping me with food, so I was literally living off him for quite a while down there and he was my lifeline,” Travis told The Guardian. So he wasn’t quite as much of a financial burden, Travis got a telemarketing job asking people for their opinions about the Affordable Care Act. “I was just getting yelled at every single day,” he recalled to NFL.com.

Jason went to bat for his baby bro and managed to convince the UC coaches to let him rejoin the team. However, Travis had to agree to a key change: he’d be playing tight end. “I hadn’t even played the position one time, but I was confident I’d be all right,” Travis said in a Grantland interview. The experience taught him what a treasure his older brother is. “When I say I owe it all to him, I really do,” he told The Guardian.