Scott Swanson
Keegan Holly signed a letter of intent Monday, May 14, in a ceremony in the Sweet Home High School Library, to play football at Lewis and Clark College.
Holly is the fourth Sweet Home athlete this year to take that step, following swimmers Lauren Yon and Mia Davis, who attend East Linn Christian Academy but swam for Sweet Home, volleyball player Ally Tow and track athlete Bethany Gingerich.
The last Sweet Home graduate to move on to college football was Brandon Martin, who was an all-conference defensive lineman at Whitworth, where he played from 2006-2009.
“He’s a game-changer in a lot of ways, taking us not just further in the playoffs, but he’s taking it to the next level,” Football Coach Dustin Nichol told a crowd of approximately 100 students, staff, family and friends who crowded the library for the event. He noted that Holly is also representing Sweet Home at the Shrine Game in August at Baker City, the first Husky to do so since 2014.
“Any time any athlete signs to go on to play at the next level, that’s a huge accomplishment,” Nichol said. “Whether it’s NAIA, Division I, Division II, whatever, he goes from being of 100 percent of football players now down to about 3 percent of football players that go from high school to the next level. That is a huge accomplishment and I’m very proud of him and he’s represented us in a very positive way. I wish him all the best. He’s been a great asset to us.”
Holly, who was listed at 5-10, 165 pounds last fall, finished the season as a First Team All-League selection as both a receiver and a defensive back. He is fourth overall at Sweet Home with a single-season total of 648 receiving yards, and third overall in career receptions with 56. He is also fifth in career receiving yards, with 1,000.
Holly said that Lewis and Clark was the first school to contact him about playing football, pulling him out of a first-period class earlier this year.
“I thought that was a super-cool experience,” he said. “It made me initially like them the most because he was the first coach who reached out and called me.”
He said he also heard from “a couple more schools,” but after an overnight visit with the Pioneers, he made up his mind.
“I loved the coaches, and I got along really well with the players,” he said. “The facilities, I just loved the environment there.”
Holly said he is particularly impressed with Pioneers Head Coach Jay Locey, a Corvallis native who was chief of staff at Oregon State under Mike Riley and won a national title in 2004 as head coach at Linfield, where he went 84-18.
Holly said he plans to find out when he gets to camp whether he will specialize in offense or defense.
“Whatever they need me to play, that’s what I’ll do,” he said.
He said he plans to major in business, with a goal of getting into marketing management.
“Especially with their campus being right outside of Portland, there’s a lot of good opportunities and they’re really good with their internships,” he said of the school.
Nichol said the very fact that Holly is taking the step to play at the next level makes him “special.”
“I think this will be a good level for him to play at and he’ll find success there,” he said. “I think this will be a good fit for him. He’s got the grades to go with it and the desire to go with it and definitely the talent.
“He has a way for sniffing out the ball and coming down with it. He’s going to be sorely missed.”