Keyt transfering to Indiana State

Friday, July 8, 2011
Josh Keyt

TERRE HAUTE -- The allure of a bigger stage is sometimes the hardest thing to ignore, especially for a football player. North Putnam grad Josh Keyt found himself on one of the biggest stages in Division I football, suiting up for the Hoosiers of Indiana University of the Big Ten. However, the promise of performing center stage isn't always what it's cracked up to be.

Keyt, a redshirt sophomore, found that out recently. After starting as long snapper for the Hoosiers during spring practices, he was informed that while he may start most, if not all season, the university wouldn't put him on scholarship. Most players would have packed it in and called it a career, but Keyt had other ideas.

He was heavily recruited by Indiana State while playing for the Cougars, so he's decided to transfer to the Sycamores this season and will have the chance to be their long snapper as well as play some defensive end. He'll be joining former head coach Greg Barrett who joined the staff this season and South Putnam graduate Adam Masters.

"I went to IU for two years and I obviously learned a lot," Keyt said. "I played defensive end there for two years and was going against the No. 1s for two years, so I'm going to be able to bring that with me to ISU, which I feel like is going to help me quite a lot.

"I'm just really excited. I talked to coach Barrett and he's talking about possibly playing me at fullback on short down yardage and stuff, so it's really pretty exciting," Keyt added.

The best part for Keyt is he'll be able to hit the gridiron this fall since he transferred down.

"I can go right away because I transferred down. Instead of Division I-1A, I transferred to Division I-2A, so I actually get to go right away. It's really exciting," he said.

Keyt had bulked up while playing with the Hoosiers and has been training with his uncle Mike Schimpf this summer to prepare for his fall season with the Sycamores.

Keyt said the atmosphere at the ISU scrimmages he attended was something that drew him in, and he knows he'll love playing for ISU head coach Trent Miles.

"Whenever I went down there I really liked the attitudes the players had," Keyt said. "They had the music going and everything, of course it's not as big of a stage as what IU is or any Big Ten school place, but I could tell it was more like a high school thing. They all played for each other, they were out there having fun and I really, really like coach Miles. He seems like a great guy."

He said the Sycamores tossed three offers his way before he ultimately decided to go to IU, but the thought of playing in Terre Haute never really left his mind. He says things couldn't have worked out better for him.

"I was watching them through the year because I always thought about going over there and playing and I'm just really excited," Keyt said. "I saw they went 6-5 last year, got second in their conference and their coaches were telling me they think should definitely win their conference this year. What was a big change for me was just talking to people and seeing how other people were excited about ISU football, which wasn't around when I was getting recruited at first."

Ultimately Keyt's decision to join the Sycamores came down to one thing -- he wanted to play football. It seems ISU has welcomed him with open arms and now he's ready to show them what he's got.

"Everything just worked out really well," he said. "I just wanted to go back to playing football, which is what I told my parents. They told me you can either hang up the cleats and be done for good or you can go try to play somewhere else. I can't just hang them up and not play anymore and I definitely want to play defensive end there and they're going to give me the opportunity to do, which is very exciting for me."

Keyt and the Sycamores open their season on the road against Big Ten powerhouse Penn State Sept. 3.