EWU spring football: Cheney High’s Keenan Williams gets early start with Eagles
On his last day as a 17-year-old, Keenan Williams was walking purposefully toward his future.
It lies on the red turf of Roos Field, where Williams was toiling Tuesday afternoon on the first full-pads practice of spring football at Eastern Washington.
Barely a month ago, Williams was still a senior at nearby Cheney High School, but he graduated early so he could enroll at Eastern and “come out and help my team get better and win a national championship.”
Those are lofty goals, but Williams has snagged a few already: he was dunking basketballs as an eighth-grader before becoming a 4-year letterman and two-way all-star at tight end and defensive end in high school. He also finished high school with a 3.45 grade-point average.
A three-star recuit who was courted by several larger schools, Williams chose to live at home and play for the Eagles. At 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds, he’s more than a boy among the other men on the defensive line.
The college game is faster, allows Williams, who will play defensive end. “The intensity is different, and it’s way better – it’s awesome.”
Having Williams in the fold early is also pretty awesome for the Eagles, who were forced by injury to burn six redshirts last year on the D-line.
In Williams’ case, the Eagles can make an early assessment of his readiness while he gets in 15 extra practices and gets acclimated to college life.
“He could still redshirt, but I don’t want him thinking that way,” EWU coach Beau Baldwin said.
Early-admission football players are common enough at larger schools but a rarity at the FCS level. However, Baldwin said Williams “was excited about wanting to do this. And I said ‘heck, yeah, if that’s what you want to do.’”
Indeed it was, enough for Williams to give up his last season of track at Cheney, where he was a standout sprinter.
High school days aren’t quite over, however.
“I still get to go to prom, so I’m happy,” Williams said.