Keon Keeley always felt Notre Dame was home.
It just took time and a detour through Tuscaloosa to make that clear.
After three seasons at Alabama, the former five-star defensive end entered the Transfer Portal in January. That decision, he admitted, was the hardest part.
Once he began communicating again with Notre Dame, everything else came naturally.
“I basically knew once I had been in communication with Notre Dame that I was going to go here,” Keeley stated. “I kind of knew when I stepped on campus that I was going to go to Notre Dame. It was a really easy decision to choose Notre Dame.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to choose to transfer, but once that process had been in movement, Notre Dame felt like an easy option, a no-brainer for me.”
The familiarity mattered.
Keeley originally committed to the Irish in June of 2021 before decommitting in August of 2022. When he returned to campus this winter, many of the same faces were still inside the Gug, including head coach Marcus Freeman.
“I would say that Coach Freeman being in charge is one of the coolest things,” explained Keeley. “He’s really relatable to us. Whenever he walks into the room, you can feel his presence because he’s bringing a winning attitude and a competitive mindset. It allows us to be pushed to be the best every day. I really like that.”
While the relationships never faded, Keeley himself has changed.
“I feel like I'm a much different person than I was then,” Keeley said of where he’s changed since high school. “I feel like my outlook on football is 100 percent changed, but also my perspective on being a man of faith while also being a man in general.
“I've gone through lots of ups and downs. The only thing that you can do is continue to persevere. I just feel like this is a blessing to be in this opportunity and I feel like it's at the perfect time. There's no better opportunity than to be here at Notre Dame.”
The Tampa native is fresh off his best collegiate season where he tallied 13 tackles and three sacks for the Crimson Tide in 2025.
Keeley now hopes to expand his game under defensive line coach Charlie Partridge.
“I'd say just being as consistent as I can be,” said Keeley of where he can grow. “That's the biggest thing — being the most complete player I can be and refining every detail of my game. I know at Notre Dame all that's possible and so I'm excited.”
Notre Dame was in the driver’s seat to land Keeley from the jump, but Partridge’s background has the attention of every defensive lineman in the program.
“We've definitely watched a lot of the film from his NFL teams that he's been a part of,” Keeley stated. “Obviously, he's coached some of the best defensive ends in Trey Hendrickson and J.J. Watt. He's coached a lot of great players. We definitely tend to look at a lot of his film, not just with those players, but even from this past year in Indianapolis. There's a lot we can take from this.”
Spring ball will be important for Keeley as he adjusts to a new program and a new playbook, but he’s also focused on transforming his body. The goal is to put himself in a position to play defensive end at a high level, which means coming down from the 282 pounds he played at last year.
“I feel like that's been something that people have wanted to know,” Keeley explained. “Definitely slimming down. That's the goal. That was something I think was mutually understood that I could slim down to allow myself to be physically the best player I can be for my body type. I think that was more something. Realistically, nothing different than any other player trying to get bigger, faster, stronger, but I guess I'd emphasize leaner.”
Yes, Keeley’s story has the chance to be one of the ultimate feel-good stories in recent years at Notre Dame.
And he won’t be lacking for motivation as the Notre Dame legacy walk inside the stadium hit him during the visit.
“I've never even really seen Rudy, but they were playing the theme song and it felt so surreal,” recalled Keeley. “I like teared up. Right then and there, I basically knew I was going to come back. I think part of the reason why the stadium felt bigger was because of the development of my career, having gone to a different school and having had this been basically my first love and being in the stadium from what felt like so long ago and I was so far from, just to be back in it. I was so far from it for a while.
“To be back and reunited in the stadium and have the opportunity, the stadium felt 10 times bigger, not just because of our amazing stadium, but because of how much passion and emotion I felt. I could just feel it radiating through the stadium.”
Keeley is set up for success.
The talent and maturity are there. The hunger is there. Most importantly, Keeley has the support system that few transfers have when walking in the door at a new school.
Drayk Bowen, Adon Shuler and the Reader family are all still in South Bend and that adds a layer of comfort that can benefit Keeley.
“I have so many friends in here from my class,” said Keeley. “Honestly, I kept in touch with a lot of them even when I was at another school. We were all cool guys. We were all friends.”
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