Blue-Grey Football Alumni Update: Keith Washington

Blue-Grey All-American Combine participant and All-American Bowl invitee Keith Washington is doing well nowadays at West Virginia.

Plenty of prospects, some of them high-profile, others under-the-radar, have come and gone in the past decade or so, since the inception of the Blue-Grey All-American Bowl. Still, the talent level across the board on the national scene has been about as good as it gets.

Things don’t figure to change anytime soon, as the hype continues to build for this year’s games: Dec. 16 and Jan. 20 at Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, Jan. 6 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Raymond James Stadium and Jan. 13 at Atlanta Falcons’ Mercedes Benz Stadium.

To gain a better understanding about the rapidly growing direction of things, perhaps now it’s best to take some time to reflect on the humble beginnings. Therefore, moving forward, the plan is to more closely examine the brand’s many alumni from all over the country.

The focus here is Keith Washington from Prattville (AL). A member of the Class of 2015, he first made national headlines at the brand’s All-American Combine. An invite followed to the game at Raymond James Stadium as South defeated North, 39-14.

Plans were in motion for him to team with the likes of Boston College commit Chris Lindstrom, Michigan commit Karan Higdon, Samford commit Kelvin McKnight, South Carolina commit Keisean Nixon and Boston College commit Jeff Smith, among others.

Unfortunately, the scenario never did materialize. Instead, Washington weighed options at the next level. His focus was intense. Probably best, with so much at stake. A slow start to the recruiting process picked up fairly late in the game, truth be told.

Fast forward, to present day, and things turned out well. Many would agree. In fact, the 6-foot-1 and 190-pound redshirt senior defensive back for West Virginia will line up against Oklahoma State on Nov. 13 in a Big-12 Conference game at 4 p.m. (EST).

This year, Washington has played about as well anyone. In back-to-back weeks, he had an interception, the first in a 29-24 conference victory over Kansas and the second in a 41-32 conference loss to Texas. All told, his resume includes three picks.

Prior to his days with the Mountaineers, Washington committed to Michigan. Things didn’t go accordingly to plan with the Wolverines. With an NFL father in the picture, same name Keith Washington, the younger version managed to remain optimistic.

Up next, the NFL Draft looms large. Worst case scenario, he could go the undrafted free agent route. To think, a short time ago, his path essentially started with the brand’s All-American Combine in Dallas and an invite to the All-American Bowl in Florida.