All 105 is a Nittany Sports Now series profiling each Penn State football player. This edition will look at true freshman linebacker Kavieon Keys.
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 214 pounds
Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
Before Penn State: Keys was a team captain for two seasons at Richmond’s Varina High School, helping the team to a state championship as a junior. That junior season was also successful for Keys from an individual standpoint. He was named first-team all-state. In his senior season the next year, Keys finished with 70 tackles (nine for loss) and 11 sacks. He committed to North Carolina in Aug. 2022, but de-committed in December. Five days before signing day, the four-star recruit announced his commitment to Penn State.
Where he stands: Penn State’s in good hands at linebacker. Abdul Carter and Curtis Jacob are set to makeup one of America’s best linebacking duos, and Penn State also has four-stars Tony Rojas (Fairfax, Virginia) Ta’Mere Robinson (Pittsburgh) in from the 2023 Class along with Keys. Considering Keys is likely to play on the outside in the same position as Carter, he probably won’t get a lot of playing time as a true freshman. With that said, his future is bright.
A quote by Keys: “The linebackers that came from there (Penn State), I want to be the next great linebacker. I know I’m going to have to work for it but I like the challenge.” — Keys to Lions247 after his commitment.
A quote about Keys: “And then, when he came on his visit, we just kind of fell in love with him. He has an infectious personality. He has a great support system from his family. His mom has been awesome, and we kind of fell in love with him from that point on and were just trying to kind of make sense of it for both us and for him. I just didn’t know if it would play itself out the way it did.” — Coach James Franklin on Keys in his signing day presser.
