The town of Cheney, Washington is pretty small especially when Eastern Washington University is out on a break. The town itself is right at 12,000 people and the College is at 13,500 . So if it is football and in Cheney it must be EWU right? In fact the entire town lives and breathes for that Red Turf and those EWU Eagles who are the terror of the Big Sky and one of most successful D-1 AA Football programs in the Nation. So that is right where the football action must start and stop right?
Keenan Williams of the Cheney High School Blackhawks is a big time talent in the class of 2015.
Well not so fast there chief! While the Eagles are big news and the main source of football talk the local High School program is generating some new of its own right now. At least one of their recruits is generating some real recruiting interest and he just recently landed an offer from the Idaho Vandals. His name is Keenan Williams and he is one of the many kids who has a profile page here at NWPR; have a look at him his film and profile here.
The rangy defensive end for the Cheney Blackhawks is the Coaches son and in our view is a top Defensive End in this recruiting Class of 2015. Keenan had upwards of 20 sacks last season and did not know that was good when we spoke about it. That would make him the #1 Sack Master in the State looking back at last season. We caught up with him to talk about the Idaho offer and what else was on his plate.
“The offer was great. For me to come from such a small town and to have my skills noticed was a big deal. It is hard out here to generate interest so this was big for me and I could not be happier,” said Williams who is running the 100 and 200 Meters right now at 6’3.5″ and 250 lbs.
How did this offer happen?
“Well what happened is that Coach Paul Petrino (Idaho Head Coach) has a son who is a QB at Pullman High School. I guess he saw me play last season when we played them and then he asked his staff to recruit me,” he added smiling when we asked him if he sacked Coach Petrino’s son. “Ummmm Yes. I think I did.”
This Spring and Summer he is going to be headed to camps and visits at Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Montana, and Wyoming. The plan to to go right after these schools as they have all been coming on strong in recent months. He is executing on the “No-Hype” face to face approach we continue to hammer on for recruits who want to win at this game.
“Those schools all seem to want me so that is where we will go. I am looking forward to that and what I will be looking for is a great academic fit for me. The UW is a good fit as well but we have not heard anything yet. And of course EWU; it goes without saying I will be looking for my chances there as well.”
The last great player to come out of Cheney High School was a not so little guy named Steve Emtman. The UW great graduated form the Blackhawks in 1988 and went on to become the #1 Draft pick in 1992. He was the Lombardi Trophy Winner and he won the Outland Award in college and was a a consensus All American. Many feel he is one of the best if not the best positional player to ever come out of the State of Washington. No matter on that speculation because he was damn good.
Keenan may be no Emtman but he is college material and the D-1 offer he has is proof that you will find plenty of big talent in small towns if you look around! Congrats to Keenan and stay tuned for more news on this guy!
