'23 FL DE Keon Keeley (Prodigal Son)

Jiggafini19Deux · Aug 27, 2026

dublinirish · Aug 27, 2026

NDPhilly said:
Looks so much better physically than he did at Bama and even in the spring. Malpractice that Bama had him all the way up to 282.

bama messed him around with position changes tbf and thats happened historically to plenty DE/OLB types at ND also

BoredIrish · Aug 27, 2026

I have a feeling that Keeley is one of those guys that plays better than he practices.

irishandy · Aug 29, 2026

BoredIrish said:
I have a feeling that Keeley is one of those guys that plays better than he practices.

He will be one of many depth guys that are going to come in the game fresh and make an impact.

Bama's loss and a huge gain for ND.

IrishLax · Sep 17, 2026

So with him and Dunham we're basically 4 deep at DE.

We are basically ~7 deep at DB (minus Tae), 4 deep at LB, and ~4 deep at DT (minus Onye). Just nuts. Never seen a defense like this, even 2012 we had true frosh Keivarae Russell at CB and no depth behind the top line DL / LBs.

allenm5333 · Sep 17, 2026

IrishLax said:
So with him and Dunham we're basically 4 deep at DE.

We are basically ~7 deep at DB (minus Tae), 4 deep at LB, and ~4 deep at DT (minus Onye). Just nuts. Never seen a defense like this, even 2012 we had true frosh Keivarae Russell at CB and no depth behind the top line DL / LBs.

I would argue Thomas is a fine enough DE for pass down and Sev is showing some flashes

Jiggafini19Deux · Sep 17, 2026

Took Coach Free some time to get here, and he was on the lip of the cup for a championship two years ago, but this is how you build a program. With time.

irishandy · Sep 19, 2026

Just think if Keeley would've initially stuck with ND coming out of high school, either way glad to have Keeley back and with a better position coach.

I'd love to see him get a fumble recovery and run it back for a TD.

Riddickulous · Saturday at 11:48 PM

There were some encouraging flashes tonight. Curious to see if he builds on it.

yankeehater · Saturday at 11:54 PM

Where?

Riddickulous said:
There were some encouraging flashes tonight. Curious to see if he builds on it.

Where?

BeatSC · Sunday at 12:50 AM

yankeehater said:
Where?

Where?

Yeah where?

MacIrish75 · Sunday at 12:52 AM

Keeley played well tonight. A couple PBUs and some pressures.

Dale · 2026-10-19T18:49:35-0400

He was better rushing the passer than Young was far more often that I would have expected

When I look back and think who talent wise did we overrate and underrate having not played a real team yet. Unfortunately Young was probably the one we might have overrated the most.

Ophiocordyceps · 2026-10-19T18:51:16-0400

Dale said:
He was better rushing the passer than Young was far more often that I would have expected

When I look back and think who talent wise did we overrate and underrate having not played a real team yet. Unfortunately Young was probably the one we might have overrated the most.

Wasn’t Young double teamed more?

Dale · 2026-10-19T18:53:06-0400

Ophiocordyceps said:
Wasn’t Young double teamed more?

They double teamed both a lot be it TE/OT/RB or OT/OG. It felt like Keeley was able to just get some movement. Young has been silent against top two OTs he’s faced

stlnd01 · 2026-10-19T18:58:07-0400

Dale said:
They double teamed both a lot be it TE/OT/RB or OT/OG. It felt like Keeley was able to just get some movement. Young has been silent against top two OTs he’s faced

It feels like Young can be an incredible weapon, because he's so athletic, but not someone you can rely on to be THE guy in a pass rush. The way you can with Traore (and one hopes Keeley).

IRISHDODGER · 2026-10-19T19:42:27-0400

stlnd01 said:
It feels like Young can be an incredible weapon, because he's so athletic, but not someone you can rely on to be THE guy in a pass rush. The way you can with Traore (and one hopes Keeley).

Agreed. I’m thinking he’ll end up w/ a solid career at ND but not reach the ceiling that was set for him. Tim Prister would gush over him b/c he also loved his dad, Bryant…which is understandable considering he‘s an ND man w/ all the football accolades in the world. Dunham could be the next star.

NDPhilly · 2026-10-19T19:44:11-0400

I think it’s worth noting Keeley was lined up on the backup RT generally while Bryce was against the starting LT

IrishFanForever23 · 2026-10-19T19:50:16-0400

ISD mentioned Young playing through double teams most of the game and him not having to deal with that before was probably an issue. All stemmed from Traore being ejected.

Dale · 2026-10-19T19:55:37-0400

He has zero sacks against BYU, UNC, Stanford, MSU and Wisconsin. There were people talking about will he leave after this season. He’s taken a big step forward and is much better than last year. He’s not going to the NFL after this season, that’s what I mean by overrate post Purdue game. Keeley has also earned more PT. Drop Thomas, add Dunham and ride with the 4.

jprue24 · 2026-10-20T10:35:15-0400

NDPhilly said:
I think it’s worth noting Keeley was lined up on the backup RT generally while Bryce was against the starting LT

A true freshman who was in a snap/drive rotation the week before.

GoldenToTheGrave · 2026-10-20T10:51:28-0400

Dale said:
He has zero sacks against BYU, UNC, Stanford, MSU and Wisconsin. There were people talking about will he leave after this season. He’s taken a big step forward and is much better than last year. He’s not going to the NFL after this season, that’s what I mean by overrate post Purdue game. Keeley has also earned more PT. Drop Thomas, add Dunham and ride with the 4.

I don't think he's shown anything in general that would suggest he's an NFL talent, even if I think he's a decent rotational guy right now.

PutuporShutup · 2026-10-20T11:37:19-0400

GoldenToTheGrave said:
I don't think he's shown anything in general that would suggest he's an NFL talent, even if I think he's a decent rotational guy right now.

you talking about Keeley or Young?

Young to me has absolutely shown NFL ability, with that said, I think he'll definitely be back another year due to the scheme this year not showcasing our DL. Ash scheme has our DL gobbling up the OL/TEs and stopping the run, this is supposed to free up LBs to make plays. The LBs flat at aren't making plays and are doing a terrible job on their blitzes.

At some point in time you need to allow the DEs to rush the passer other than third and long (BYU was hardly in 3rd and long and when they were they struggled). You need to get good teams into more third and longs. You have a LB or safety fill the gap left by the DE rushing.

Irish#1 · 2026-10-20T13:34:36-0400

NDPhilly said:
I think it’s worth noting Keeley was lined up on the backup RT generally while Bryce was against the starting LT

So our backup was better then their backup! Keeley has shown better play recently.

KMac151993 · 2026-10-20T15:21:17-0400

Keeley showed up Saturday night.

IRISHDODGER · 2026-10-20T19:10:05-0400

KMac151993 said:
Keeley showed up Saturday night.

Looked better than Thomas

KMac151993 · 2026-10-20T19:24:27-0400

IRISHDODGER said:
Looked better than Thomas

110%

'23 FL DE Keon Keeley (Prodigal Son)

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