[WVGrandma4Kasey]

Keyes steps up as leader of Marshall secondary

By Doug Smock
Staff writer
It doesn’t take much to get Marshall strong safety Curtis Keyes to crack a smile. But mention the West Virginia game and he breaks into a dance of sorts, complete with the full ear-to-ear grin.
Oh, does he want to get his senior season off the ground. That it begins at WVU just makes it all the sweeter.
“Oh yeah, I’m ready!” he said with exuberance. “I’m tired of hitting my own players. ... Right now, the intensity, I can feel it building every day. Every day.”


Keyes, a starter most of the previous three seasons, is one of the fixtures in the Thundering Herd defense. But he has a different role this time around: leader.
He is the elder statesman of the secondary. When he looks around Sept. 2 at Mountaineer Field, he may see two freshmen at cornerback. The free safety, Geremy Rodamer or C.J. Spillman, will be relatively young. Nickel back Dennis Thornton is a senior but is still feeling his way around after years at linebacker.
It will be up to Keyes, the 6-foot, 206-pounder from Mount Olive, Miss., to keep the youngsters on task in a hostile atmosphere.
He knows what’s ahead. He recalls stepping onto the field at Ohio Stadium in 2004, amid a scarlet-colored sea of 100,000 Buckeye fans. That could give a 19-year-old jitters.
“My sophomore year, I was nervous, no doubt,” Keyes said. “I had been to those places like that but I wasn’t playing [except for] special teams. To know you’re really going to be a part of the game, it’s a whole different mindset. I’m just going to tell them to relax, it’s no different from a scrimmage now, just focus.
“There’s only 22 people on the field at one time. The fans don’t count.”
Keyes is grateful for the elders he had to consult with, Willie Smith, Roberto Terrell, Chris Royal, Chris Hawkins among them. Now, he is the man.
“There’s one guy right there who has played in some big stadiums, in some big games. He needs to be the leader,” Snyder said. “He needs to have a career-best year, as do all of our seniors. So that’s his role. He needs to go out there, have poise and patience, and if there’s any nervousness and jitters, he needs to help those young guys, because he’s been there.”
And in his fifth training camp, he already has seen the opportunities to provide the voice of experience.
“I’ve been a leader by my actions, but I never really had to speak up, say things,” Keyes said. “Like [Wednesday], Ashton [Hall] was ‘nodding off’ a little bit and I had to say, ‘Wake up, focus in.’ ”

Mathews about coming back from a hamstring injury. That was a toughie, considering the free-for-all to fill one of the starting spots.
“I kept telling him, ‘If you’re not ready, don’t come back out here,’ ” Keyes said. “I hurt my foot last [August], and that smart man Mark Snyder told me to sit down and I refused to. That whole season, that foot and that neck [bothered me]. I told him you’ve got to take it slow and let those things heal so you can have a productive season.”
Shoot, he even has to dispense that advice at home. His brothers, 28-year-old Jermaine and high school senior Isaiah, are living with him this year. Their mother is taking care of her ill mother, and their house is being repaired from water damage brought on a year ago by Hurricane Katrina.
Isaiah Keyes is a blue-chip prospect who is playing quarterback at Huntington High, but his status for the Highlanders’ opener tonight against Capital was up in the air due to a knee injury.
“We’re not going to really push it,” Keyes said. “I told him you can play two games and sit out the last eight or your can sit out one or two and play the last eight. We’re going to make a decision that’s smart, best for him.”
That’s Keyes’ new role in a nutshell: helping young players make smart decisions. In the Herd secondary, he sees a bright future for freshmen such as cornerbacks Ashton Hall and Kevin Perry.
“Ashton, he’s become a student of the game; that’s one thing I can say about him and Kevin,” Keyes said. “They came in humble, stayed low, wanted to learn the game. They’re going to be great players, because they want to learn the game. They’re learning really fast.
“I got a lot of talent back there with me. Young talent, but it’s a lot of talent.”
BRIEFLY: The Herd worked in full pads for the final time this week, and will go into helmet and shorts today and take Saturday and Sunday off. ... Receiver Matt Morris returned, bringing the Herd to just about full strength. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw worked out on the sidelines as he continues to rehabilitate his ankle.