Keaton Kristick (born April 25, 1988) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He was signed by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2010. 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

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for c ...

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

Early life

He was born in

Naperville, Illinois Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, west of the city. Naperville was founded in 1831 by Joseph Naper. The city was ...

to parents Kevin and Karie Kristick. His father played

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by th ...

in 1977 and 1978. His uncle, Dave Kristick, played linebacker for

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

during the 1970s. The Kristick's originally resided in the Chicago area before returning to their roots in the East Bay (Martinez, Clayton & Danville), and eventually Arizona. Keaton attended St. Mary's High School in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

. He served as the president of the St. Mary's

Young Republicans The Young Republican National Federation, commonly referred to as the Young Republicans or YRNF, is a 527 organization for members of the Republican Party of the United States between the ages of 18 and 40. It has both a national organization ...

. Kristick played football there for three years as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

and

, and was the team's leading rusher and

tackler A tackler was a supervisor in a textile factory responsible for the working of a number of power looms and the weavers who operated them. The title derived from the job, which was to "tackle" any mechanical problems encountered with the looms in ...

each year. As a junior, he set an Arizona state record with a 99-yard touchdown run. As a senior, he scored 18 rushing

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s and one receiving touchdown, which made him the leading scorer in the Desert Valley Conference. That season, he was named a first-team All-''

Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

'' player, 5A All-State player, first-team all-region linebacker, and first-team all-region running back. He was also honored as the team's

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

and the region's defensive player of the year.

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

named him the seventh-best prospect in the state of Arizona.Player Bio: Keaton Kristick
,

, retrieved June 5, 2009. He was evaluated as a three-star prospect by Rivals.com and a two-star prospect by

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

College career

Keaton chose to attend

for the family atmosphere, his "relationships with the coaches and the chance to play in the Pac-10 Conference", where he majored in business. As a true freshman in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, he saw some action as a back-up linebacker and in a

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 ...

role and recorded 17 tackles. He forced a fumble against

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

quarterback

Colt Brennan Colton James Brennan (August 16, 1983 – May 11, 2021) was an American football quarterback. He played college football for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, where he was a two-time, third-team All-American before being selected by the Washington ...

, and recovered a fumble from

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

quarterback T.C. Ostrander, which set up an Oregon State touchdown. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, he saw action in all 13 games and recorded 15 tackles. In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, he started in all 13 games and finished the season as the team's second-leading tackler with 85 tackles including 14 for loss and 3.5

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in th ...

s, and four passes broken up. He ranked second on the team and eighth in the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

in terms of tackles for loss. In the upset win against

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

, Kristick compiled a career-high of ten tackles including two for losses of yardage and one quarterback sack. He was named to the All-Pac-10 second-team. Keaton was named a consensus 1st team All-Pac-10 linebacker in 2009 and led his team in tackles with 95 including 8.5 for loss, two INT's and seven passes broken up as a strongside LB. Prior to the 2009 season, he was added to the

Lott Trophy The Lott IMPACT Trophy is presented annually to the college football defensive IMPACT player of the year. IMPACT is an acronym for: Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community, and Tenacity. The award purports to equally recognize the ...

and

Bednarik Award The Chuck Bednarik Award is presented annually to the defensive player in college football as judged by the Maxwell Football Club to be the best in the United States. The award is named for Chuck Bednarik, a former college and professional Americ ...

watch lists.

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

analyst Ted Miller rated him the 19th-ranked player in the Pac-10. ''

College Football News ''College Football News'' (''CFN'') is a magazine and website published by College Football News, Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. News coverage includes scores, statistics, rankings, and reports on college football games. Analysis include ...

'' named him to their "120 Players To Know".120 Players You Need To Know: Oregon State LB Keaton Kristick
''

'', May 4, 2009.

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

Kristick was not selected in the

2010 NFL Draft The 2010 NFL Draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, with the firs ...

, but was signed by the

shortly after as a free agent.Cliff Kirkpatrick
Kristick, Adeniji sign as free agents
''Corvallis Gazette-Times'', April 25, 2010. On September 4, 2011, he was waived by the 49ers.

Personal life

On June 15, 2019, Krisrick married Molly Brown in Chicago, IL where they reside today. They share a daughter.

Early life

College career

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

Personal life

References

Further reading