‘For sure’ — Notre Dame has real shot at second chance to land a fan favorite recruit who got away via the transfer portal
Former Notre Dame commit Keon Keeley may be eyeing a return to South Bend.
If you think back to the 2023 recruiting class for Notre Dame football, for much of that cycle, former five-star defensive end Keon Keeley was viewed as the crown jewel of a stellar group. Unfortunately for head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish, Keeley eventually opted to decommit and wound up with the Alabama Crimson Tide. With how much the fan base loved Keeley at the time, it felt like a case of “the one who got away.”
As we have found in the transfer portal era, everything can change extremely quickly, and things rarely ever end up how you originally planned. That is the case for Keeley, who once looked like a player who would play three years and head off to the NFL. Instead, he is now in the transfer portal and eyeing his next home with two years of eligibility remaining.
Even though things didn’t quite work out for the Florida native in his three years in Tuscaloosa, we still saw some flashes of that five-star talent down the stretch of this past season. There is sure to be a solid market for the 6-5, 282-pound defensive lineman, and that includes Notre Dame. On Wednesday, Keeley plans on making the familiar trip up to South Bend, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens next.
Keeley’s interest in Notre Dame
Notre Dame was obviously a team that Keeley had a lot of interest in when he was coming out in the 2023 recruiting class, but things didn’t work out. For those who don’t remember that recruitment, the talented pass rusher convinced himself that playing under head coach Nick Saban was better for his aspirations of getting to the NFL. On paper, that was a very understandable perspective. Alabama has obviously been much better at putting defensive linemen into the NFL in recent memory.
Earlier today, I was made aware of the interest from the Keeley side. It should be obvious for Notre Dame to have their own interest. Keeley did not leave things on bad terms, and he was very open and honest with the Notre Dame program back during his recruitment. Whenever a decommitment does happen, however, you have to wonder just where things stand. From the Notre Dame side, they still value Keeley’s talents highly.
According to a source close to Keeley, there is “for sure” a very real interest in Notre Dame. They are a program that he never lost love for, as well as with Coach Freeman. I was assured that Keeley is open to Notre Dame, seeing how the visit goes this week, and then taking things from there. While that doesn’t mean that Keeley will definitely end up with the Irish, it does speak volumes for how quickly this got set up.
Notre Dame has a very real chance here. It will all depend on how the visit goes and whether Keeley buys into the vision for what Freeman has continued to build since he made the switch to Alabama.
Keon Keeley’s career background
When Keeley came out of Tampa Bay (Fla.) Berkeley Prep in the 2023 recruiting class, he was considered to be arguably the top overall player in the county. On the 247 Sports Composite ranking, the Florida native ended up rated as the No. 2 overall player, the No. 1 EDGE, and the No. 1 player from the state of Florida in the class. That was fresh off a senior year where Keeley collected 23.5 tackles for loss and 19 sacks.
It shouldn’t have been much of a surprise that Keeley had a ton of options on the table. Some of his top offers at the time included the Fighting Irish, the Crimson Tide, Ohio State, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Florida, Tennessee, Ole Miss, USC, Florida State, Arizona State, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Georgia Tech, Pitt, UNC, Mississippi State, Kansas State, Rutgers, and UCF, among others.
In three years with Alabama, Keeley ended with 19 total tackles, three tackles for loss, three sacks, and one pass breakup. It wasn’t until late this past season, however, that Keeley was given consistent playing time. If you pop on his film against Oklahoma in the playoffs, for instance, you are going to see a player who still has a ton of talent when given opportunities.
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