Koby Keenum committed to UK this month even though he did not start playing football until his freshman year. (Twitter Photo)
Kentucky got a huge recruiting commitment from 6-4, 300-pound Alabama lineman Koby Keenum Saturday. Rivals.com ranks him as the No. 3 center in the 2023 recruiting class.
However, there was a time Keenum envisioned himself as an elite baseball prospect.
Mars Hill Bible School coach Darrell Higgins says Keenum was a baseball player when he came to the school as an eighth-grader.
“I had to talk him into playing football. Finally his sophomore year he fell in love with football and the grind,” Higgins said. “He was a left-handed pitcher, first baseman, hitter. He did all that traveling for baseball.”
“He has gotten better and better since he started with us but he did not have a lot of success his freshman year. He had toe surgery and missed a lot of the year.”
COVID hit and stopped Keenum’s sophomore baseball season. That’s when a group of Mars Hill senior football players, including the coach’s son, Peyton who now plays at Troy for coach Jon Sumrall, moved all the weight equipment to a player’s house so they could work out.
“They really transformed him into a great player,” Higgins said. “He is very athletic. He can really come off blocks and get to linebackers and the secondary. The best thing he does is finish off blocks. He’s just very special.”
