Bobby Keyes (born November 14, 1982) is a professional American, Canadian

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who most recently played for the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the UAB Blazers where he was twice most valuable defensive back as well as first-team All Conference.

College career

He played football for Jones County Junior College before attending

University of Alabama-Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...

Professional career

Keyes was originally signed as a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

undrafted free agent by the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

in the

2005 NFL season The 2005 NFL season was the 86th regular season of the National Football League. Regular season play was held from September 8, 2005 to January 1, 2006. The regular season also saw the first ever regular season game played outside the United ...

but was released at the end of training camp. He signed with the Birmingham Steeldogs of the

Af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

arena football league in 2006 and led the team with 66 tackles, 17 pass knockdowns, and 8

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s. He was named to the All-Af2 First-team. He then went on to the Dallas Desperados of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

, where he played from 2007 to 2008. In 2007, he had 39.5 defensive tackles, 9.5

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

tackles. He led all AFL rookies and set a Dallas Desperados rookie club record with 6 interceptions, and a team record by recording 5 interceptions in 5 consecutive games, despite being nearly half the season on the injured reserve list. His accomplishments got him named to the AFL All-Rookie Team. In 2008, he had 9 defensive tackles before being placed on the

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

on May 21. On May 29, 2009, Keyes signed as a free agent with the

of the

. On August 29, 2009, he recorded his first CFL interception and returned it 67 yards. It was also notable as the first, long-awaited interception of the

2009 Edmonton Eskimos season The Edmonton Eskimos season was the 52nd season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 61st overall. The Eskimos finished the season in third place with a 9–9 record. They appeared in the West Semi-Final where they lost to the C ...

, for which he won the first interception pool into which players had paid $20 each week and had finally amounted to over $1000 by week 9.

Personal

When not playing football, Keyes makes his home in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

, with his wife Zakia and his two young sons named Braylon and Sean-Cole keyes and now have a baby on the way. The baby was a girl named Kylie.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keyes, Bobby 1982 births Living people People from Raleigh, Mississippi American football defensive backs Canadian football defensive backs American players of Canadian football Jones County Bobcats football players UAB Blazers football players Washington Redskins players Alabama Steeldogs players Dallas Desperados players Edmonton Elks players