'Alabama was where I really loved it': 5-star EDGE Keon Keeley commits to the Tide

At this time a year ago, Keon Keeley had been a Notre Dame commit for nearly six months. He pledged to the Irish in June 2021, just as his recruitment really started to take off.

He loved the Fighting Irish, what they offered from an athletic and academic standpoint, and the coaching staff. By the time December rolled around, his lead recruiter (Marcus Freeman) had been promoted to the head coaching position.

But as the calendar turned to 2022, the No. 3 player in the On300 rankings out of Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep started re-evaluating his recruitment. He started hearing from other schools more often, and in January he want to Alabama‘s elite junior day. He returned again in July alongside some of the Tide’s other top targets, and not long after that, he decommitted from Notre Dame. Ohio State and Florida both made a run at him, but ultimately Nick Saban won out, with Keeley announcing his commitment to Alabama on Monday afternoon.

“I just felt like Alabama was the place for me,” he told On3. “I really liked the culture and the coaching staff. It’s just a rare opportunity to go to the University of Alabama to play football for such a prestigious coach like Coach Saban. It’s a great opportunity to go play, and you look at the track record of the outside linebacker position, they’ve had a bunch of guys drafted in the past five years. Alabama is Alabama, and I just felt like, ‘Why not ‘Bama?’ It’s a rare opportunity, and I’m blessed to be able to have it.”

Final visit locked things in for Keon Keeley

In addition to the January and July visitings, Keeley has been in Tuscaloosa two more times this fall — for an official visit in October and an unofficial over Thanksgiving weekend for the Iron Bowl. For most of the fall, Florida, Ohio State and Alabama were the only three real contenders. By last month, it was down to the Buckeyes and Crimson Tide.

But the trip to T-Town, where he was joined by a number of Alabama commits, sealed the deal.

“Just kind of being in the environment again, and you know I stayed low-key about it,” he said of what he experienced on the visit. “I didn’t really want the attention prior. I just wanted to go. But it was a lot of things; being around the commits before and after the game, going around town and getting to talk to them. It just seemed like a place I would fit in, and I felt like I could have a great time here even I weren’t playing football.”

Keeley has developed great relationships with a number of players that he’ll join in the Tide’s recruiting class. They, in addition to Alabama’s coaches, were recruiting him hard to join something special.

Richard Young, he texts me a bunch. Ty Lockwood, we hung out a bunch on that visit. Caleb Downs, he texts me here and there trying to know what’s up with me. Him and Justice Haynes, they all do a great job reaching out. Olaus Alinen is super cool.”

Alabama’s coaching staff closed strong

Early in his recruitment, Keeley’s primary recruiter was receivers coach Holmon Wiggins. The two developed a good connection, but as Keeley went along, he felt he really connected with outside linebackers coach Coleman Hutzler and running backs coach Robert Gillespie. Hutzler became his primary recruiter during his junior season, and the two began building a relationship from there.

Even while Keeley was committed to the Irish, he kept coming back to the idea of being coached by Hutzler and Nick Saban.

“I remember I had called him after we’d stopped talking for a little bit later in my Notre Dame recruitment,” Keeley said. “And I called him and he picked up right away. I told him I wanted to come on a visit, and since then it’s been amazing. We always talk, and his family is awesome. He’s a high-energy coach; and he’s a “don’t talk about it, be about it” guy. I like that about him. He has energy to push us, the discipline to correct us, and I feel like he’s just a great coach.”

As the Tide battled Ohio State in the last few weeks, Keeley found himself coming back to the idea of playing in Tuscaloosa and what that entails. The Crimson Tide were the standard he’d measure himself against if he went anywhere else, so he thought why not be a part of it instead of comparing to it?

“One thing that I noticed is if I would question myself like, am I going as hard as I can on this play? I would be comparing myself to an Alabama football player,” he added. “And I felt that kind of what also just made it different. They’re the standard. Would an Alabama football player do this because Alabama is Alabama. That’s just what I really enjoyed. “

Once-in-a-lifetime chance becomes reality

Keeley still has to pinch himself a little bit when he recognizes the decision he is making. He grew up a Florida fan and raved about how Billy Napier and Co. recruited him and the quality of the university. He loved Ohio State, too. The decision ultimately wasn’t an easy one.

But the relationships he has built in Tuscaloosa, from commits all the way up to Nick Saban, were too much for any other school to overcome.

“He’s Nick Saban,” Keeley said. “From the outside, people can think he’s really strict and not a nice guy. But when you get to meet him, he’s a really nice guy. He just wants his players to succeed, and he cares about them. He gives it to you straight: ‘If you want to be great and do the right stuff at Bama, make the right decisions and give your all, you’ll be successful. It’s you who determines that.’ That spoke a lot to me.

… Every school did a great job recruiting me. When it came down to the end and what I wanted to accomplish and had the best opportunity, ‘Bama just ended up being the choice for me. They said everything the other schools had, but you Alabama was where I really loved it.”