Tim Keenan III recorded the first sack of his Alabama career against the Texas A&M Aggies last Saturday in the Crimson Tide’s win, and for the Birmingham, Alabama native, it was a culmination of hard work, challenges and personal triumph.
Keenan signed with Alabama as a member of its 2021 recruiting class after an impressive high school football career at Ramsay High School. He was considered a four-star prospect by multiple recruiting outlets. Unfortunately for the in-state prospect, he suffered an injury to his leg during his senior season and had to miss out on the Rams’ playoff run.
The injury impacted his early days in Tuscaloosa.
“The injury set him back,” Tim Keenan’s father said. “When you are going down there, you’re coming off of an injury, other guys are ready to play, coming from different systems, and you battling back from an injury. You behind the eight ball before you even start, so to speak.”
Keenan did not see playing time as a freshman, and he received a redshirt.
The former four-star pushed through his freshman season at Alabama and used this time to focus on his body and lose weight. He was listed on Alabama’s 2022 roster at 343 pounds. There was optimism about Tim’s ability to contribute during his second year in Tuscaloosa, but he was hit with the challenge of losing his grandmother, which impacted the Alabama defensive lineman’s focus heading into his redshirt freshman season.
The loss of his grandmother gave Tim what his father believes is a new perspective on his life on and off the football field.
“He was actually ready and doing well, and that set him back,” Keenan Jr. said. “He realized in this system, he had to do things their way. The exact way they wanted it to get on the field. This year, he came out, and he focused on himself. He got his mind right, got his body right, he got in his word, and he strengthened his relationship with the Lord. It’s just been up from there.”
Tim earned a starting job for the Crimson Tide in fall camp and has started every game for Alabama this season. He was listed at 315 pounds to start the year. The redshirt sophomore had the best performance of his Alabama career against the Aggies when he finished the game with eight total tackles and one sack.
Tim Keenan III was all over the field wrecking havoc against Texas A&M. His impact can’t be understated as he led Alabama’s defense in total tackles.
Tim Keenan III is Touchdown Alabama’s Defensive Player of the Week. pic.twitter.com/KVqtENUCtl
— Touchdown Alabama (@TDAlabamaMag) October 8, 2023
Nick Saban complimented Keenan’s hard work and determination during his Wednesday press conference.
“His emergence as a good inside player and a good nose, let’s us play Jaheim at five technique, and then the two of them play inside when we go to four down guys,” Saban said. “So, it’s given us a lot of diversity in how we can use other players, but he’s played really well, been very productive, smart, very dependable. You can always count on him to do his job. He works hard, he gives great effort. He’s kind of made himself a player here. He’s worked his way up so that he’s a very productive player and, he could have done what some other guys do and say, I don’t, I’m not gonna play that much. I’m not gonna work that hard. But this guy worked hard for every minute since he’s been here to get where he is at and it’s paying off for him.”
Keenan’s emergence is no surprise to Winning Edge OL/DL founder Terrence Swift, who has trained Keenan for years, dating back to his time in high school.
“He has always been explosive,” Swift said. “He always could move good even when he was 340, so that was never the problem. But I understand when you got to be a certain size of play, like play-by-play, especially running to the ball and running back to the huddle, got to be able to move and having more weight playing, hinders you some. So, he’s definitely moving good now, and he’s showing what he can do, which I been knew, but now the world gets to see who Tim Keenan III is.”
As Alabama continues to work its way through the SEC portion of its schedule, Keenan will be called upon to be a reliable force for them. This is something Keenan’s father feels will be no problem for his son.
“He put his expectations in God,” Keenan Sr. said. “It’s not an amount of tackles, it’s just him fulfilling his childhood dream.”
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Justin Smith is the Director of Recruiting for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via jdsmith31smith
