100 Day Bulldog Countdown: 27 Days - No. 27, Jr. S Chris Keys Jr.
Jeff Lebby’s era of Mississippi State football has arrived.
The Bulldogs are on their third coach in as many years as Mike Leach’s tragic passing opened the door for defensive coordinator Zach Arnett’s debut as head coach last year. That experiment failed before the year even ended for State and now it’s Lebby’s turn to take the wheel.
While there is always a risk in hiring first time head coaches, Lebby brings to Starkville an exciting offensive scheme that has been productive everywhere he’s been. The coach has also brought with him some swagger that has the fanbase ready to see what’s next.
Over the course of the next 100 days, we will take a look at Lebby’s roster and even some fun historical rewinds that will bring back memories for Dawg fans of all ages.
Today, we look at a former transfer moving up the depth chart this fall.
100 Day Bulldog Countdown: 27 Days – No. 27, Jr. S Chris Keys Jr.
One thing that the transfer portal has done more often than usual is bring players back to their home state from other schools. Keys is on that list.
After playing three years at Indiana University, the Collins native made the move back to “The Sip” when he transferred to Starkville. Keys had an up and down time during his three years in Bloomington as he redshirted his first year in 2020 after three games.
The COVID-19 year of 2020 didn’t count against his eligibility anyway which would be good news after he had a quick ending to year two. Following a season-ending injury in the second game of the year, Keys would sit out the rest of 2021. He started in two games in 2022 and made 15 tackles and a pass deflection in 10 ball games and he would enter the transfer portal after that season.
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Keys got a chance to get some good playing time in year one with the Bulldogs last year at safety. He played in 11 games and made 10 tackles, 1.0 TFL and a pass breakup with a career-high of four tackles coming against Texas A&M.
He enters his junior season now with the Bulldogs and has a chance to take things up a notch as there is a wide open defensive backfield in Matt Barnes’ first year as the safeties coach and co-Defensive Coordinator.
It would be a great development for Keys to get a chance to rise up the depth chart in his home state. Back during his high school days for Collins, Indiana was the only Power 5 school willing to take a chance on him as he had an offer from the Hoosiers and from Jackson State.
It wasn’t for lack of production for Keys as he had six interceptions his senior season and two special teams touchdowns on the way to being selected to the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star Game. This year, Keys has a chance to prove a lot of teams wrong by making plays inside the SEC.
