In-state tight end KeShawn Toney ready for new chapter with Gamecocks
December 19, 2018
Keshawn Toney is ready for the next chapter in his football career.
The Williston-Elko High tight end played his last high school game Saturday for the South Carolina squad in the Shrine Bowl and signed his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday to play at South Carolina.
Toney will be one of the early enrollees for Will Muschamp and the Gamecocks and arrive on campus in January.
“I’m going to miss everyone back home but I am ready for it,” Toney said. “It is a new chapter in my life and I am ready to start to play with my teammates. It is the SEC so I’m ready to get up there and play, learn from coach Muschamp.”
Toney, only the third Shrine Bowl selection in Williston-Elko history, caught one pass in the game for 7 yards but enjoyed the week bonding with future teammates Cam Smith and Zacch Pickens on the S.C. squad. It was also a little bit of a preview on how he will be used at the college level.
During the Shrine Bowl week, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Toney was used more in a traditional tight end spot, lining up near the tackle and as an H-back in the backfield. That is probably how he will be used by the Gamecocks in college, he said.
At Williston-Elko, he was split out more during his final two seasons where he caught 65 passes for 757 yards and nine touchdowns and finished with more than 2,000 receiving yards in his career.
“I’m used to playing H-back and running routes. I did before. My freshman year, we ran the wishbone so I was used to blocking,” Toney said. “It is going to be the same and South Carolina. It was a good experience [at the Shrine Bowl] playing against all these good guys going to big schools. I’m going to play in the SEC and we are going to see players like this every week in the SEC. I can get a feel for it before I even get there and get started.”
Williston-Elko coach Derek Youngblood is confident Toney can excel as both a pass catcher and blocker with the Gamecocks.
“He will be dangerous in the passing game,” Youngblood said. “He is good on quick routes and mesh routes for the next level. He has a great understanding at what it takes to get open.
“Sure gonna miss coaching that guy. He’s an unbelievable young man. We have had some good ones here and he is right up there at the top.”
Toney is one of two tight ends who signed Wednesday with the Gamecocks, joining Wake Forest (N.C.) High’s Traevon Kenion. USC will be losing Jacob August and K.C. Crosby to graduation and return Kiel Pollard, Kyle Markway, Evan Hinson and Chapin’s Will Register. Still, USC has shown the tendency to move tight ends in and out of the lineup.
“I feel like I can go in and contribute since they rotate the tight ends a lot,” Toney said.
December 19, 2018
Keshawn Toney is ready for the next chapter in his football career.
The Williston-Elko High tight end played his last high school game Saturday for the South Carolina squad in the Shrine Bowl and signed his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday to play at South Carolina.
Toney will be one of the early enrollees for Will Muschamp and the Gamecocks and arrive on campus in January.
“I’m going to miss everyone back home but I am ready for it,” Toney said. “It is a new chapter in my life and I am ready to start to play with my teammates. It is the SEC so I’m ready to get up there and play, learn from coach Muschamp.”
Toney, only the third Shrine Bowl selection in Williston-Elko history, caught one pass in the game for 7 yards but enjoyed the week bonding with future teammates Cam Smith and Zacch Pickens on the S.C. squad. It was also a little bit of a preview on how he will be used at the college level.
During the Shrine Bowl week, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Toney was used more in a traditional tight end spot, lining up near the tackle and as an H-back in the backfield. That is probably how he will be used by the Gamecocks in college, he said.
At Williston-Elko, he was split out more during his final two seasons where he caught 65 passes for 757 yards and nine touchdowns and finished with more than 2,000 receiving yards in his career.
“I’m used to playing H-back and running routes. I did before. My freshman year, we ran the wishbone so I was used to blocking,” Toney said. “It is going to be the same and South Carolina. It was a good experience [at the Shrine Bowl] playing against all these good guys going to big schools. I’m going to play in the SEC and we are going to see players like this every week in the SEC. I can get a feel for it before I even get there and get started.”
Williston-Elko coach Derek Youngblood is confident Toney can excel as both a pass catcher and blocker with the Gamecocks.
“He will be dangerous in the passing game,” Youngblood said. “He is good on quick routes and mesh routes for the next level. He has a great understanding at what it takes to get open.
“Sure gonna miss coaching that guy. He’s an unbelievable young man. We have had some good ones here and he is right up there at the top.”
Toney is one of two tight ends who signed Wednesday with the Gamecocks, joining Wake Forest (N.C.) High’s Traevon Kenion. USC will be losing Jacob August and K.C. Crosby to graduation and return Kiel Pollard, Kyle Markway, Evan Hinson and Chapin’s Will Register. Still, USC has shown the tendency to move tight ends in and out of the lineup.
“I feel like I can go in and contribute since they rotate the tight ends a lot,” Toney said.
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