U.S. Coast Guard safely locates Chris Smelley after going missing while kayaking

Chris Smelley has been safely located by the U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday after going missing on his kayak in Walton County, Florida.

The Walton County Sheriff’s office released a report on 3:37 p.m. ET that Smelley, 37, went fishing in his blue and black kayak around 8:30 a.m. ET in the Gulf of Mexico off Grayton Beach.

The WCSO and South Walton Fire District conducted a search for the former SEC athlete, and the coast guard as contacted as well. At 8:30 p.m. ET, 12 hours after he initially went missing, the sheriff’s office announced that he was found safely by the coast guard.

It’s unclear what the events that led to him going missing were, or any other details pertaining to the case. What is clear, however, is that he has been located after a few hours of searching.

Smelley was a two-sport athlete in college. A member of the 2006 recruiting class, he was a four-star recruit and was the No. 14 quarterback in his class, per the On3 Industry Rating, which is  a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services.

Out of high school, Smelley signed with South Carolina to be a quarterback under head coach Steve Spurrier. In 21 career games, Smelley threw for 3,210 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 22 touchdowns for the head ball coach. He was the starter for South Carolina during the 2008 season after Tommy Beecher suffered an injury in the season opener against North Carolina State.

Taking a look at the program’s record books, Smelley’s name appears multiple times. He ended his South Carolina career ranking within the top 10 of attempts, completions, and total touchdowns.

After his junior season, he changed his tempo as Smelley chose to no longer play football heading into his senior season. Instead, he transferred to his hometown university, Alabama, where he joined the Crimson Tide’s baseball team. He was not deemed eligible by the NCAA to participate in the 2009 season and despite being on the team, Smelley did not record a statistic in 2010.

He went on to move into the coaching space after his sports career came to an end. In 2014, he became the head coach at American Christian Academy in Tuscaloosa, where he had attended high school but resigned ahead of the school’s 2021 football season.

On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.