The first thing you notice about Cory Keebler is his impressive size. The Lakota East tight end stands 6’ 7” and weighs 240 pounds, but he actually looks bigger. It was that size that initially attracted Cincinnati to this “under the radar” prospect.

Because of his height, Keebler thought his future would be on the hardwood and discarded his football helmet in the eighth grade. But despite being named one of the top 100 basketball players in Ohio, this athletic big man decided to give football another try in 2008, his junior season. The allure of the Friday night lights was just too strong to ignore.

Cory Keebler

“I really missed it on Friday nights,” said Keebler. “I decided I wanted to play again and knew I had a really good frame for football. I didn’t want to leave high school regretting not playing football again.”

So after three years of focusing on only basketball, Keebler returned to the gridiron and the sport that would allow him to get a free college education.

Playing only tight end as a junior, Keebler got his feet wet by catching 7 balls for 50 yards, but in 2009, his role increased to more of an H-back position, playing both tight end and fullback. On his way to being named 1^st team All-GMC, Keebler caught 8 passes for 109 yards and rushed the football 6 times for an additional 22 yards, but his contributions didn’t always show up under his name on the stat sheet.

As primarily a blocking fullback, the Thunderhawks hoped defenders wouldn’t be able to see Pedro Powell (RB) behind the massive Keebler, and the strategy worked since Powell ranked second in the conference in rushing with 1,469 yards in ten games.

“Our running back was only about 5’ 7” so they really didn’t see him after I left my three point (stance). I could also get down field and block because I could run with the running back.”

Technically, Keebler is being considered a greyshirt, which means he won’t go on scholarship until January of 2011, but he hasn’t ruled out being on the UC sideline this fall.

“I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do yet,” said Keebler. “There is nothing different with my playing situation at all (from the other recruits). The only difference is when I go on scholarship.”

He continued. “If I want, I could go to workouts this summer, and go to two-a-days. I’d just have to pay (tuition) for those first few months, but then I go on scholarship after that.”

If he does decide to join the UC squad for the 2010 season, Keebler said he will redshirt.

During the fall, a lot of Mid-American Conference schools were intrigued by Keebler’s size and athleticism, but he feels his verbal commitment to UC scared them away from making an offer-at least, all but one.

Jeff Quinn, the former Cincinnati offensive coordinator and present Buffalo Bull head coach, recognized Keebler’s potential and offered him a scholarship in January.

“Once I committed to UC, the MAC schools pretty much stopped talking to me. They pretty much knew that I wanted to go to a school (Cincinnati) that close and that good, but I did get an offer from Buffalo.”

To Cory Keebler, the word “committed” had strong meaning.

“Once I committed to Cincinnati. I was committed. I wasn’t going to do a soft verbal. If UC was committing an offer to me, I was committed to them. I didn’t want them going around shopping my offer to other people so I wasn’t going to do that to them either. I was committed to Cincinnati.”

In addition to the late offer from Buffalo for football, Keebler said he had earlier basketball options from a number of Division II and Division III schools, but when he decided to concentrate on football, he informed those institutions that he would not be playing basketball his senior season at Lakota East.

If size, intelligence, ability and work ethic are the necessary ingredients for predicting athletic success, Keebler’s future looks extremely bright. The honor student was named All-Academic for two years in the GMC, meaning he has at least a 3.3 GPA and was also a two-time winner of Lakota East’s Iron Man Award.

“Iron Man for our team means I did not miss a single thing (practice, weight lifting, meetings, games, etc.) for two years in a row.”

He has also been named to play in the 2010 SWOFCA All-Star Game that will be held at Kings High School on Thursday, June 10 at 7:30 p.m.

Where will this big man line-up at Cincinnati?

“Originally they were thinking defense, maybe defensive end. They saw me with a similar frame to a guy like Connor Barwin, but after they saw my Oak Hills game, they decided they like my athleticism and liked the fact I can get downfield and can block. I dropped only one ball all season and have good hands so they have told me tight end ever since then.”