Chuckie Keeton: The Conundrum of Utah State, NFL Draft Talks

Few NFL Draft prospects are more intriguing than Utah State QB Chuckie Keeton. From knee injuries to standout performances, it’s hard to slot Keeton into any category as we enter the college football season.

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All football skills aside, it’s been a roller coaster ride for Keeton. He’s suffered several pesky knee injuries that have kept the soon to be 22-year-old on the sidelines. And while some question whether he’ll be able to regain top playing form, others hold out hope that he can put together a storybook 2015 season to leap him into the mid-tiers of NFL Draft talk.

In the video below, it’s easy to see the wide variety of opinion that exists surrounding the Aggies QB.

Immediately standing out is an impressive arm strength. With Keeton’s arm ability, the sky is the limit. There’s little he won’t be able to do. With that, he’s a proven “fiery gamer”, for lack of a better term. His playing style will be attractive to NFL teams for several reasons.

Not only will his raw skills and style keep him competing at any level, but his physical toughness will keep him in games. Yes, the knee has been weak — however, the kid continued playing on for a snap after presumably tearing an ACL.

His aggressive style and attitude matches up on the field.

However, with the pluses come some severe negatives. There won’t be a single scout studying this tape that will be able to ignore the pitiful mistakes and decisions that occurred. When you have a quarterback who makes poor decisions while throwing off his back foot, success won’t be coming very quickly.

It’s clear that Keeton might trust that arm a bit too much. With that comes a major question mark. In his fourth year on the field, the kid is still making poor decisions combined with pitiful footwork. Blame the coaching all you want, but these throws simply shouldn’t be happening.

Perhaps you could give the 6’2″ QB a pass at the end of the day — he only threw two interceptions in 196 attempts in 2013. In 2012, he had a 27/9 TD/INT line.

The big picture isn’t as bad as the small sample size of throws vs. Wake — but what picture do scouts have in 2014?

If anything, it certainly appears a bit murky.

Luckily for Keeton, he’ll have an opportunity for one final clean slate in 2015. With a huge year that consists of minimal mistakes, the Aggies quarterback can jump his draft stock to a fairly decent level. Scouts certainly won’t be questioning the talent. They’ll be out in full force in Logan this season. It’s up to Keeton to make their trips worthwhile.

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