Keon Keeley Has Role Now on Alabama Defense

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—  Highly-rated recruits don't come to Alabama to wait their turn on the bench, but that is how it plays out for most players. Earning a starting role or even rotational minutes as a true freshman is challenging but not impossible (see Dijon Lee Jr. or Lotzeir Brooks.)

Sometimes players aren't quite ready yet, and sometimes there are too many talented people ahead of them at their position to see the field. The redshirt rule also allows a player to appear in four games while maintaining a year of eligibility, giving some players a little more time to figure things out.

Redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Keon Keeley was consensus five-star prospect at outside linebacker by every major recruiting outlet coming out of high school in the class of 2023. Multiple outlets had him as a top-10 overall player in the class. Needless to say, Alabama fans had high expectations.

He did not appear in a single game for the Crimson Tide that season. Keeley transitioned from linebacker to lineman in Alabama's Bandit position prior to his second season at Alabama and played in five games.

Some injuries along Alabama's defensive front this season have opened up a window for Keeley to get more playing time, and he made the most of his opportunity in Alabama's win over Missouri on Saturday with two total tackles, including his first career sack early in the second quarter.

"I know our fans have been waiting on that, waiting on him to take steps and excited for him," Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said Monday. "We've been continually working. I've talked about him in the offseason, that he's taken steps in the right direction. Certainly he didn't have the role that probably he would want at the beginning of the season, but he's continually taking steps in the right direction. He has a role for us now, and he took advantage of that role on Saturday. I thought he did a really nice job in some different pass rush scenarios. He's getting better at his down-in and down-out play. Consistency, doing his job at the same high level. You're gonna hear me talk about that for probably the rest of the season, it's just about doing your job fundamentally at a high level over and over again. He's doing that more consistently, and so he get rewarded with reps, and he took advantage of those reps and produced for us on game day."

Keeley was also credited with a quarterback hurry in the fourth quarter that helped force an incompletion from Mizzou quarterback Beau Pribula. He was part of an Alabama defensive front that had a lot of success in affecting the quarterback.

With the lack of playing time he had his first two seasons and the current climate around college football, it wouldn't have been surprising if Keeley tested the waters in the transfer portal. Instead, he has continued to stick with it at Alabama, even through the coaching transition from Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer.

"He just has done a good job of just being patient," DeBoer said. "There's reasons that have kept him from getting on the football field that he just continues to work on. And he's got potential to do some amazing things for us, and working him into different packages this last week, I really liked the growth there. He's been involved in special teams a little bit more in the past few weeks, as well. So, just continue to build each week, and as he gets more and more comfortable, I can see that impact being greater and greater.

"And so, I'm really proud of who, he's just a great kid in general. That's what makes it fun being on the football field with him. That's what makes you wanna pour everything you got into him and help his growth. And then, he's humble and obviously can make some plays. So, I'm looking to see more and more of him in the weeks ahead.”

Keeley will look to get more opportunities in an Alabama defense this week that's facing the nation's No. 1 scoring offense at 48.2 points per game in Tennessee. The No. 11 Volunteers will travel to Bryant-Denny Stadium to face No. 6 Alabama this Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on ABC.