Notre Dame senior wide receiver Lawrence Keys III’s strong spring and fall camp didn’t result in a large Week 1 role.
He has decided it won’t lead to any role the rest of the year.
Keys is sitting out the remainder of 2021, per multiple reports. Irish Breakdown was first to report the news. A source told BlueandGold.com Keys has not been at practice since Notre Dame defeated Florida State on Sunday night. He is on track to graduate this year. If he moves on as a graduate transfer, he will have two seasons of eligibility left.
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It’s a sudden season-ending move for a player who initially appeared to meet the Notre Dame staff’s challenge to its quartet of senior receivers. There was ample playing time available for them after both 2020 starters departed.
“Receiver, to me, it’s about more than anything else getting [Joe] Wilkins, [Braden] Lenzy and Keys at the next level,” head coach Brian Kelly said in April. “Those three guys are where this is at. They have got to ascend to a championship level. They have been good, don’t get me wrong. I need them to move to that great level.”
Keys’ start to answering that call was an impressive one. He caught Kelly and staff’s attention early in spring practice and hauled in five receptions for 115 yards in the Blue-Gold Game.
Wilkins and Lenzy impressed too, though. Senior Kevin Austin Jr. returned from a foot injury in fall camp and was an immediate standout. Graduate senior Avery Davis, Notre Dame’s leading returning receiver, was entrenched in the rotation. If the opener was any indication, Keys was at the back end of it.
Keys played five snaps in Notre Dame’s 41-38 win Sunday. He was listed as the No. 2 slot receiver behind Davis on Notre Dame’s opening-week depth chart and the one it issued Wednesday for Saturday’s game vs. Toledo.
Keys and senior receiver Matt Salerno were listed as the primary punt returners on both depth charts, but running back Kyren Williams fielded punts at Florida State.
Keys redshirted in 2018 and caught 13 passes for 134 yards in 2019 as a sophomore. The NCAA issued a COVID-19 blanket waiver last fall declaring the 2020 season would not count toward any player’s eligibility and awarded everyone an extra season. Keys caught five passes for 51 yards in 2020 and began the year as the punt returner.
The loss of Keys further thins Notre Dame’s receiver room, which has seen five players transfer out since January and now has eight scholarship players after Keys’ decision. Jafar Armstrong and Micah Jones took graduate transfers this winter. Junior Kendall Abdur-Rahman left in the spring. Sophomores Jordan Johnson and Jay Brunelle left after the spring semester.
None of those four was a projected starter or weekly contributor in 2021, but their exits meant Notre Dame began fall camp with single-digit scholarship players at wide receiver.
Notre Dame’s remaining scholarship receivers are Davis, Austin, Lenzy, Wilkins, sophomore Xavier Watts, freshman Lorenzo Styles Jr., freshman Deion Colzie and freshman Jayden Thomas. Watts worked primarily as a slot receiver in camp and could be elevated to Keys’ spot.
The Irish hold commitment from three receivers in their 2022 class: four-star C.J. Williams, four-star Tobias Merriweather and three-star Amorion Walker. Williams (No. 45 overall) is the highest-ranked player of the group.
A New Orleans native, Keys was a three-star recruit in the 2018 class.
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