Former NIU defensive tackle Scott Kellar is giving something back to the game that gave him a chance to play professional football.

After lending a hand to Huskie defensive line coach Sheldon Herd as a volunteer coach last winter and during spring practice, Kellar will start his coaching career as the defensive line coach at the College of DuPage this fall, a career he hopes to continue.

He is currently completing his Sociology/Criminology degree at NIU and will graduate during summer commencement on August 11.

Kellar began his pro career as the fifth-round draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 1986. He started every game during his rookie year and the first five games of the next year before a knee injury landed him on the injured reserve list.

He stayed with the Colts until the end of the 1988 season, and then caught on with the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings for brief stays during their 1989 camps.

Then Kellar retired.

“It was a culmination of five surgeries, a reconstructed shoulder and a disc disease in my back,” he said of his decision. “When I have kids in a few years, I’d like to be able to play with them.”

Kellar was an Honorable Mention All-America in 1984, the same year he was named to the All-Mid-American Conference First Team and was voted as the Huskie MVP. That year Kellar set an NIU season record with 20 tackles for loss. He also holds the career mark with 47.

“While I was in college, they (the records) didn’t mean a lot,” he said. “I just went out there every Saturday to win, to do whatever I had to do for the team to win. Now they mean a little bit more to me.”

Kellar was a senior tri-captain in 1985, along with Tim Griffin and Curt Pardridge, under current head coach Jerry Pettibone, who was in his first year at NIU.

“Scott was a great player,” Pettibone said. “He started every game that year and was NIU’s nominee for the Jefferson Award, the highest award in the MAC. There was no doubt he was a guy that would go pro.”

After turning pro, he came to realize that football at that level is more a business than it was in college.

“A kid coming out of college has to understand the business aspect of the game, because that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “If you understand that the game is a business, you can enjoy it, but too many guys get caught up in the dollar figures.”

Except for his injuries, Kellar has nothing but positive words to say about his pro career.

“It was something I dreamed about and worked for all my life,” he said. “It’s hard to put into words. It was a great experience. I met a lot of people and, with the exception of all my injuries, I had fun while it lasted.”