CU Buffs Keeney could 'make a real difference' in the passing game

When Dylan Keeney came into fall camp last season, the team didn’t have much of a receiving threat from the tight end position. Rumors began to swirl that the lanky framed freshman could see early playing time, but a shoulder injury held him out of most of camp and forced Mike MacIntyre and staff to redshirt him.

Now Keeney is a year older, his frame has filled in a lot more, oh, and the Buffs still don’t have another receiving threat at tight end.

“I recovered from my shoulder surgery in the offseason… I’d say I’m 100 percent,” told Keeney. “It’s been a little sore here and there, but that’s kind of expected, I’ve been getting a feel for things again and I  think I’ve gotten back up to speed to where I was and beyond.”

With the year off behind him, the 6-foot-6 tight end can now see the benefits.

“Pretty much everything (was beneficial), just getting up to speed with the college level, getting the playbook down more, developing physically, I think it was really good sitting out the first year,” he admitted. “It wasn’t really ideal to be injured, of course I wanted to get on the field and play, but in the long run I think it was better for the team and myself.”

Now that he’s back at full go, we’re back to the conversation of how much the pass-catching specialist will contribute this season.

“I’ve been making some plays in camp, so it’s just up to the coaches, I think I could contribute a good amount though,” said Keeney.

Those coaches don’t want to give away too much, though.

“I think he’s a good player, and we’ll see first game,” said head coach Mike MacIntyre with a smile and a laugh.

“It just depends on how he continues to progress, he’s done a nice job in camp,” said a slightly more talkative tight ends and running backs coach, Klayton Adams. “You want to work him into the right situations and make sure that he has a chance to be successful. I think it just depends on how much of that type of stuff that we want to do, and the situations that we get into in the games.”

One would assume that with the different element Keeney brings to the field, he will get plenty of snaps out there.

“I think I could make a real difference in the passing game, we have a ton of good blocking tight ends,” explained the redshirt freshman. “I’m probably the smallest out of everyone, but I’m also probably faster and more mobile than the rest of the guys.

“I think we have a really versatile group,” he added. “A lot of people can do a lot of different things, and I think we’ll help the team in a lot of different ways.”

While Keeney has “TE” next to his name on the roster, he took inspiration from a guy who had “WR” next to his name last year, “Gucci” Tyler McCulloch.

“He ran a bunch of routes from the Y (slot) position last year, split out, I’ve watched a ton of film on him this offseason,” he told. “Just trying to do what he did, and follow in his footsteps.”

Adams shed a little more light on the comparison of the two.

“I think because he’s coming from the opposite end of it, where Tyler McCulloch came from receiver and kind of worked his way into that slot role, and Dylan is starting at tight end and kind of working his way into that type of role, you’ll probably have more ability to put him on the line and do some more of the run stuff,” he said. “Once you’re split out, it doesn’t really matter, the Hs and the Ys, if they’re playing slot, essentially do the same type of thing, but it’s the piece when you’re attaching them to the box that’s a little different. We did a small amount of that with Tyler, but with the progression of where Dylan is coming from, you have the ability to do more of that.”

Call him an h-back, a big slot receiver, a tight end, or whatever you want, I’ll call it the Gucci position, and you can expect Dylan Keeney to be getting some run there this season.