Notre Dame's 2023 recruiting class took a massive blow on Wednesday.
Roughly 14 months after becoming Notre Dame's first commit in the class, five-star defensive end Keon Keeley has announced his decommitment. Keeley's decision to reopen his recruitment comes from his continued desire to visit other schools.
Keeley was Notre Dame's only five-star prospect committed in the class. Rivals ranked him as the No. 19 overall player, No. 2 weakside defensive end and No. 7 player in Florida. As a junior, Keeley recorded 61 tackles (44 solo, 17 assisted), 34.0 tackles for loss, 16.5 sacks and 19 quarterback hurries.
Last month, Keeley appeared to have softened his stance on Notre Dame. The Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep rising senior visited Alabama on July 30, marking his second trip to Tuscaloosa following an initial trip in January.
Since pledging to ND, the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Keeley also visited Florida (twice) and Ohio State. Florida was the only school Keeley reported a visit to before committing to the Irish on June 28, 2021. Mike Elston was the ND’s defensive line coach at the time before he left for Michigan in January.
To date, Keeley’s visits elsewhere were unofficial, as Notre Dame has a strict “no opposing official-visits policy,” which, if violated, results in a decommitment from the program. However, Inside ND Sports reported Keeley was working on scheduling official visits with Alabama and Ohio State as potential destinations.
This summer, both teams — and seemingly others — have not given up on adding Keeley to their recruiting classes.
“Recruiting-wise, I am blessed to be in a position where I have programs that are interested in me,” Keeley told Rivals national recruiting analyst Ryan Wright last month. “You hear stuff from time to time, but I am focusing on getting ready for this big season with my teammates and coaching staff.”
During the spring, the Irish thought they calmed the waters after Keeley visited Notre Dame three times — including an official visit June 10-12. On his trip to South Bend for the Blue-Gold Game on April 23, Keeley was visibly engaged and showed excitement among other commits. He also visited Notre Dame for spring practice March 25 with the Reader family.
Keeley is friends with Tre and Troy Reader, who attend Berkley Prep. Tre is now a freshman walk-on linebacker at Notre Dame, while Troy committed to the Irish as a 2023 class baseball prospect.
The senior defensive end’s decommitment has major implications on Notre Dame’s recruiting class. Keeley would have been the first Rivals five-star recruit to sign with the Irish since Blake Fisher in 2021. The last time Notre Dame brought in a five-star defensive end was 12 classes earlier when Elston added two in Stephon Tuitt and Ishaq Williams.
Five-star prospect Daelin Hayes, who ended up playing defensive end for the Irish, was classified as a linebacker during the 2016 recruiting cycle.
First-year Irish defensive line coach Al Washington has expanded his defensive line board within the last three weeks. At the end of July, Washington offered scholarships to pass rushers Blake Purchase and Tennessee commit Caleb Herring. On Monday night, three-star defensive end Jaeden Moore reported an ND offer.
Moore already had a commitment ceremony set for Wednesday night at the time of the ND offer, and he went ahead and committed to Oregon at that time, as he had originally planned.
Notre Dame has three other defensive linemen committed in the class in strongside defensive ends Brenan Vernon and Boubacar Traore and defensive tackle Devan Houstan. The Irish hoped to sign as many as five defensive linemen in their 2023 recruiting class.
Keeley’s commitment was worth 211 points in the 2023 Rivals team rankings. Notre Dame dropped from first to third in the rankings following his decommitment.
He is the third player to leave Notre Dame’s class. Cornerback Justyn Rhett decommitted and later chose Georgia following an official visit with the Bulldogs. Meanwhile, Sedrick Irvin Jr. vacated his commitment after five-star running back Richard Young reported a Notre Dame official visit in June. Irvin later committed to Stanford.
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