Career: In his 33-game career (19 as a starter), he has 116 tackles with seven sacks. His 19 starts rank first among defensive linemen, fourth among defensive players and eighth overall.
2018: Listed as a starter at defensive end on the preseason depth chart.
2017: Started EWU’s first 10 games as a defensive end, then came off the bench in EWU’s final game of the year to allow senior Marcus Saugen to start. He finished the 2017 season with 55 tackles to rank fourth on the team and first among EWU defensive linemen. He also had four sacks and a pair of quarterback hurries to go along a fumble recovery. Williams had an October stretch in which he had 31 tackles in three games, including the first two double-figure performances of his career. He finished with nine tackles, a key fumble recovery in the fourth quarter and a quarterback hurry in EWU’s 31-19 win over Montana State (10/14/17). His recovery came with 8:52 to play in the game, and the Eagles turned that into a game-clinching 13-play, 78-yard TD drive that took 5:43 off the clock. The hurry for Williams came on a second down play on MSU’s last possession of the game, a possession which ended with an interception by EWU’s Victor Gamboa with 2:01 remaining. Eastern held the Bobcats to 353 yards of total offense, including 218 rushing and 135 passing. Bobcat quarterback and the previous year’s Freshman of the Year in the Big Sky, Chris Murray, finished with only 88 rushing yards and 135 through the air. The performance by Williams came after back-to-back weeks in which he had a career highs for tackles with 12 against UC Davis (10/7/17) and 10 versus Sacramento State (9/30/17) to earn team defensive player of the week honors in both.
2016: Was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team. Played in 11 games, but missed three from Sept. 17 to Oct. 1 with an ankle injury. He finished with 18 tackles and a sack. He had a season-high five tackles against Cal Poly (11/5/16) and one game later had four versus Idaho State (11/12/16). He had a sack in EWU’s season-opening 45-42 win over Washington State (9/3/16). He sat out spring practices after off-season shoulder surgery.
2015: Was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team. Williams started nine of the 11 games he played as a true freshman, and finished with 43 tackles and a pair of sacks. After getting a tackle in his Eagle debut against Oregon (9/5/15), he made the first start of his career against Northern Iowa (9/12/15). He had a tackle on the first play from scrimmage and finished with two stops. He had a season-high seven tackles in each of his last three games versus Northern Arizona (11/7/15), Montana (11/14/15) and Portland State (11/21/15). Both of his sacks came against Northern Colorado (10/24/15) when he finished with five total tackles to earn the team’s co-defensive player of the week honor. He also forced fumbles against both UNC and PSU. Because he was able to graduate early from high school, Williams was EWU’s first-ever high school recruit to participate in spring drills. He played in two of the team’s scrimmages and had three tackles.
HS: Graduated from Cheney HS in 2015. Listed as a two-star recruit and the #27 prospect (fifth-best defensive end) in the state of Washington by
Scout.com. He was named by the
Seattle Times as a “White Chip” selection as one of the top 100 prospects in the state of Washington. As a senior in 2014, Williams was a first team All-Great Northern League selection as both a tight end and defensive lineman. Prior to the season, he was listed as a first team defensive lineman on the American Family Insurance All-USA Inland Northwest Team. Williams was also listed on Ron Siegel’s Preseason Senior All-State second team as a defensive lineman. As a junior in 2013, Williams was a two-way starter and a first team All-GNL selection on the defensive line and second team pick at tight end. He was credited with 20 sacks on the season. Prior to the season, Williams was named to Ron Siegel’s Preseason Junior All-State team as a defensive lineman. As a sophomore in 2012, Williams was a first team All-GNL performer on the defensive line and an honorable mention selection on offense. His head coach at Cheney High School from 2011-13 was Jason Williams (no relation), who was an Eagle defensive back from 1993-94. His head coach in 2014 was former WSU offensive lineman Bobby Byrd (‘03-07). Keenan’s father, Bryan, and former Eagles Jay Day (’92-95) and Lee Brown (’93-94) were CHS coaches, as well as former Eastern assistant coach Rick Olson. At the 2014 EWU summer football camp – his sixth year at the camp – Keenan was the defensive lineman MVP. He also earned MVP honors in 2013 at Football University (FBU) Camp in Seattle. From 2011-2013 he also attended various camps including Top Gun, Northwest Elite and the Nike Combine. Williams had offers from Eastern, Idaho and Wyoming, and was approved for admission to Harvard. Other schools showing interest were Washington, Montana State, Montana, Portland State, Colorado, Boise State, BYU, Army, Yale, Cornell, Air Force, Puget Sound, Whitworth, Arizona and North Texas. He also played basketball for the Blackhawks and competed in track and field as a sprinter and high jumper. Has a 4.68 time in the 40-yard dash, a vertical jump of 34 inches, bench press of 365 pounds, clean lift of 295 and squat of 450. Earned a variety of academic honors in high school where he had a 3.45 grade point average.
Personal: Business analytics major. Born 4/8/97 in Longview, Wash. Parents are Bryan and Lynell Williams. Both parents and his sister, Kieona, all attended Eastern.
| Year |
GP |
TT |
Hi |
S |
TL-Yds |
FF-FR |
PBU |
I-Yds |
| 2015 |
11 |
43 |
7 |
2 |
6-17 |
2-0 |
0 |
0-0 |
| 2016 |
11 |
18 |
5 |
1 |
1-2 |
0-0 |
0 |
0-0 |
| 2017 |
11 |
55 |
12 |
4 |
6-14 |
0-1 |
1 |
0-0 |
| Totals |
33 |
116 |
12 |
7 |
13-33 |
2-1 |
1 |
0-0 |
Blocked Kick: 2016/1 (versus Northern Colorado 10/8/16).
KEENAN WILLIAMS Top Tackling Performances (2 with 10+)
12 tackles – UC Davis – 10/7/17
10 tackles – Sacramento State - 10/30/17
