Why Keelan Smith felt a ‘huge relief’ when committing to Nebraska

Ever since his first recruiting visit to Nebraska, Keelan Smith felt ready to be a Husker.

With interest picking up under then-interim head coach Mickey Joseph, Smith was inching closer and closer to a commitment. A coaching change and Nebraska’s immediate need to rebuild its 2023 recruiting class left Smith in limbo for months.

“When the coaching change happened, I was bummed out and sad that I might not have that dream offer,” Smith said. “I honestly thought it was over for me with Nebraska.”

As it turns out, that coaching change was just the start of a renewed relationship between Smith and the Huskers. Nebraska’s new staff wanted Smith in their 2024 recruiting class after all — and the three-star athlete from Liberty North (Missouri) was happy to oblige. Smith announced his commitment to Nebraska on Friday as the sixth member of NU’s 2024 class so far.

After a few months of uncertainty, things moved quickly between Smith and Nebraska in the spring. Before Smith could commit, he visited Nebraska’s campus twice in late April. Those conversations with coaches let Smith know that nothing had changed in his desire to be a Husker.

“It was just a huge relief when I got that first text from them asking me to come up for a visit,” Smith said. “It was a weight off my shoulders then and it’s a weight off my shoulders now getting that commitment out of the way.”

It’s easy to understand why Nebraska has been on Smith’s mind for a while. His father, Neil Smith, was an All-American defensive lineman at Nebraska who went on to play 13 seasons in the NFL. The majority of that professional career was spent in Kansas City, where the Smith family remains now.

While he didn’t much watch college football growing up, Smith learned plenty about Nebraska from his father’s stories. But he still had to carve out his own identity as a player. That fact hit home early in Smith’s high school career when his freshman season didn’t live up to expectations.

Facing that on-field adversity led Smith down a path of hard work and self-improvement that remains almost two years later.

“It was tough, and I was questioning how good I was,” Smith said of his early high school career. “Going into my sophomore year I put in the most work I ever did and I earned my spot. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to get better every day because I know what it takes to get where I want to go.”

Smith’s goal is to become a professional just like his dad. He to make that possible, he’s added muscle, worked on his agility and caught passes every single day. The concentrated work on those skills paid off with a strong junior season in which Smith caught 50 passes for 850 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Having played mostly wide receiver in the last two seasons, Smith is comfortable continuing in that role in college — and Nebraska’s coaching staff agrees. At 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, there’s potential for Smith to move to tight end eventually depending on how much he grows in the next year-plus.

Because of his father’s past, Nebraska football has been a part of Smith’s family for as long as he can remember. Now, can look forward to being a part of the Nebraska family on his own merit.

“It’s a big family up there and that’s what I like the most,” Smith said. “Everyone loves each other and competes at everything they do, and coach Rhule is on top of everything with academics and football. I can’t wait to be a Husker.”