Charlie Partridge Excited About Notre Dame Defensive End Keon Keeley's Growth

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has been consistent with his philosophy on building a program. They'll look to build through high school recruiting and supplement through the transfer portal for immediate needs. This offseason, several immediate needs arose from the defensive line room. On top of replacing position coach Al Washington, Freeman needed to find replacements for several departures due to graduation and one to a career-ending injury. 

He found Washington's replacement in former Indianapolis Colts defensive line coach Charlie Partridge and made some excellent decision in the transfer portal. One of the players the Irish brought in was Alabama defensive end Keon Keeley who was originally committed to the Fighting Irish back in the 2023 recruiting cycle. Keeley was on campus in the spring, but he's already making significant strides in fall camp. 

"He’s really embraced the playbook," Partridge said about Keeley. "Not that he didn’t in the spring, but we do a lot. It’s all new language. I was doing it, too. You tend to translate your words...He's past that now and playing faster. Now, you're starting to see his talent shine. It's hard for your talent to really shine when you're thinking on so many levels. That's where he was in the spring. Now you're starting to see him execute and cut it loose. It's been fun to see his progress this camp.”

As of today, the top two defensive ends on defense is senior Boubacar Traore and junior Bryce Young, but players like Keeley are forcing the issue and putting themselves in contention to be in the rotation this fall. There's a lot of talent along the edge that Partridge has to work with. 

"Right now, you would say they're our top two," Partridge answered when asked if Traore and Young were the top two guys in the room. "There's significant improvement by them, but also by Keon, LT [Loghan Thomas] and Rodney [Dunham] is certainly in the mix right there. The other guys are in the developmental phase. But we feel good about those five right now."

Notre Dame's defense is expected to be a primary driver of success during their road to a 12th national title. The defensive end position is one of the four key positions on previous title-winning teams that have to excel throughout the regular season and into the post season.

This is the most talented group of edge players from top to bottom that Notre Dame has had since 2019 and this group could put together a more impactful season. Partridge does not have a shortage of talent and potential in this room. Now, it's about going out and turning that potential into production and Keeley's presence raises the ceiling of this tremendous unit. 

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