Former Boca Raton football star Ashton Gillotte is earning high praise from the recently-engaged Travis Kelce and his brother Jason ahead of the 2025 NFL regular season.
The Kansas City Chiefs picked Gillotte, who shined collegiately at Louisville, in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft and he is clearly already turning heads.
Gillotte’s practice performance became a topic of discussion on the brothers’ New Heights podcast after Travis Kelce recently stepped in to break up a scuffle involving the young player.
Jason Kelce, who retired from the NFL in 2024, praised Gillotte’s intensity despite the conflict.
“I like when dudes are kind of competitive and coming with a fieriness to it,” Jason Kelce said. “I thought it was the appropriate amount.”
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After discussing the practice fight between the two rookies, the Kelce brothers began to dissect some of Gillotte’s play on the field, admiring the energy and speed of the young pass-rusher during the preseason action.
“There were a bunch of clips in the last game where the motor is just very apparent,” Jason Kelce said. “To me, half of being great on defense, especially on the defensive line, is just never stopping. If you play with relentlessness—”
“—he 100 percent has that, though,” Travis Kelce finished. “I know exactly what you’re talking about. This guy has a motor, man.
The brothers later watched clips of Gillotte’s play, referencing the edge player’s success from several preseason clips.
“He’s going to play the gap in the run game and he’s going to get to the quarterback eventually,” Travis said. “And the thing is, when guys play with motors like this, that does something to the quarterback.”
“I’ve got a lot of love for him,” Kelce added.
Gillotte has made a living feasting on offensive linemen and quarterbacks his entire career. He was The Post’s Large Schools Defensive Player of the Year in 2020.
At Louisville, he tallied 40 tackles for a loss and 26.5 sacks across his college career.
Alex Peterman covers high school sports for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at apeterman@gannett.com.
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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Why Travis Kelce has ‘a lot of love’ for Boca Raton High star after practice scuffle
Reporting by Alexander Peterman, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
