CLEMSON — Cullen Harper was kind of taken aback a little bit the first time he spoke to the guy he would help break a major ACC record with.

Shortly after committing to play quarterback at Clemson, Harper saw that one of the receivers who had already committed to play for the Tigers was Marietta, Ga., native Aaron Kelly. Harper, who lived in nearby Alpharetta, figured it would be a good idea to give Kelly a call and say hello, introduce himself and hopefully start a relationship.

Harper, who had never heard Kelly’s voice before the phone call, was shocked somewhat when he heard the 6-foot-5 wide receiver’s quiet and non-Georgia-like voice.

“I didn’t know him. I didn’t know anything, but he sounded like a surfer boy from California to be quite honest with you,” Harper said.

It wasn’t just Kelly’s voice that threw most people off. Kelly also did not look like a major college football player. When he got to Clemson he was a wiry 165 pounds and few thought he would amount to anything.

“I have come a long way,” the senior said. “I was skinny. That’s all I was. I was a tall and skinny kid. I have pretty much been that way my whole life and just getting here and wondering if I could play and play at this level was my first goal.”

But when Kelly just fell short of setting a record for receiving yards during his freshman year, he knew then he could play with the big boys.

“Once I knew I could play, then I tried to be the best that I could be,” he said. “I went out there and competed and tried to make plays and tried to go out there and dominate. That was kind of the transformation. To kind of go from first just trying to play to being one of the best.”

Now he isn’t just one of the best, he is the ACC’s best, after breaking the conference’s career reception record thanks to his 10 reception, 96-yard effort in last Saturday’s 31-7 win against Duke. Kelly now has 217 career receptions.

“I thought I would always be able to get that record, but maybe a little bit earlier,” he joked. “But I always thought I would get it.”

Though Kelly joked about not getting the ball early in the season, there was something to it. Before Rob Spence was let go as offensive coordinator last month, Kelly tallied 28 catches in the first six games. In the four games since interim head coach Dabo Swinney and quarterbacks coach Billy Napier took over the play calling, he has totaled 24 catches.

“We made it an emphasis to get him the ball, no question,” Swinney said. “He is a good player. We don’t think we did a very good job giving him opportunities in the early part of the year. That’s one of the first things we did on how we started going about our business in the staff room.

“We wanted to make sure we are getting our playmakers opportunities and making sure we are doing the right things from a play-calling standpoint. Aaron has responded well. He has played great, and he has played great all year.”

Besides owning the ACC’s career reception record, Kelly also owns Clemson’s reception record and career touchdown record (19). Last year, he set the Tigers’ season records for receptions (88) and touchdown receptions (11) and was just the third receiver in Clemson history to record over 1,000 receiving yards. But Kelly doesn’t think about those things right now. His only focus is helping his team beat Virginia this Saturday in Charlottesville, Va.

“I think it is something I will look at after the season,” he said. “Right now you just kind of go on a week-to-week basis and try to help your team win and stuff like that. It is more about the team right now, but once I’m done here, I will look back on all the accomplishments and stuff like that and really take in the stuff that I have done.

“I have really done a lot of work here at Clemson and played extremely hard here, so it will be good to look back at what kind of legacy I left here at Clemson.”

And it’s a legacy that is still growing. The senior needs 129 more yards to become the Tigers’ all-time leader in career receiving yards.

“I didn’t know that. That would be nice to get too, but I really didn’t know,” Kelly said. “I don’t try to focus on the records and stuff during the year. I try to play the best I can and try to reflect on it after the season is over, but that will be nice and something to shoot for.”

And it will be another opportunity for Harper, who threw Kelly the ACC record-breaking pass last week, to be connected to Kelly – the tall and skinny kid with the surfer-type voice he reached out to five years ago.

“(Last Saturday) was a special moment for me and that was awesome for him to get that record at home,” Harper said. “It means a lot to him, and I’m extremely happy and proud of him because that is a record that could stand for a long time. I’m happy that I was able to be on the other end.”