College Football

2017 Signing Class Spotlight: Dalton Keene, Athlete

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 5:15 p.m. ET

Fansided, Jw Gravley/FanSided via Fighting Gobbler

Dalton Keene is from the West coast and the Hokies went out of their comfort zone to snag the three-star tight end.

The Hokies made the push for the three-star tight end early in 2016 and in mid-April, Dalton Keene made the announcement that he was going to commit to the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Keene, who is listed 6-foot-5, 223-pounds picked the Hokies over several schools, including Nebraska, which he visited early on in his recruiting. He also had offers from Iowa State, Missouri, Colorado, Colorado State and Syracuse.

The importance of relationships in recruiting showed in this process with the prior relationship between Charley Wiles and Keene’s father from their time as roommates at Murray State. Not only that, but Keene has also known Wiles and Bud Foster from a young age, and the chance to go play at a place where two of his father’s good friends coached clearly was too much to pass up.

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While in high school Keene mainly played on both sides of the ball. On the offense he was the teams running back but when it came to the defensive side of the ball, he was the linebacker. Hence the meaning he is entering the Hokies as an athlete. He also earned all-state honors and was also an academic all-state performer.

“Looks like Blacksburg is going to be my new home,” Keene said on Twitter back on April 18, 2016.

Keene projects to play tight end for the Hokies since tight ends coach James Shibest also played a role in the recruitment of Keene. He has a very intriguing combination of athleticism and size that has made him a top priority for the staff after not getting a single tight end commit in the previous class.