A.K. Keyes’s promising career is over, but it could have been worse.
And while it was tough for him Monday to watch Oregon’s football practice in street clothes, the fact that he was able to walk, albeit with the help of a cane, is something that he’s not taking for granted.
“It’s a blessing that I can still walk,” said Keyes, who spoke to the team at Monday’s practice. “A lot of people have this happen to them and they never walk away. So I’m fortunate.”
Keyes, a 20-year old sophomore cornerback from Los Alamitos, Calif., was involved in the scariest moment of the night Saturday during Oregon’s win over USC. At the 3:13 mark of the first quarter, Keyes was playing back in the zone defense and went after Trojan tailback Sultan McCullough to attempt a tackle.
As all the players got up after the short two-yard gain, Keyes lay motionless on the field.
“I just remember getting pushed from the side and from behind and that’s when I knew. … It was weird, like I thought I got back up and was ready to go back into the huddle, and then I realized I was still on the ground,” Keyes said. “At first it was just, ‘OK, I’m up.’ I thought I was up. Then I realized that I hadn’t gotten up yet.
“I tried, but I couldn’t.”
Keyes had suffered a neck injury that caused him to lose feeling in his arms and legs. The usually ear-piercing Autzen Stadium crowd grew scarily silent as some players from both teams fell to one knee as they witnessed every football player’s ultimate fear.
A cart was brought out. Then a stretcher. And the reality of the seriousness of the injury began to hit home.
“It’s scary because that’s like my brother out there laying on the ground helpless, and I can’t do nothing but stand there and watch,” said Oregon cornerback Steve Smith, who was on the opposite side of the field at the time of the injury. “It’s a sad story, but (ending his career) is for the best for him and his well being.”
Keyes was gingerly propped up onto the stretcher and then white tape was wrapped around his helmet to keep his body in place. He could feel the silence all around him, and said at first, he “couldn’t move anything except for my eyes.”
But then, with his image on the big screen, he raised a fist to the air that brought about emotional cheers.
“More so, I did it for my teammates to let them know I was OK and to tell them to keep fighting and win the game,” Keyes said.
He was taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center where he was put in a room with no TV but was able to listen to the radio. He was released the following morning after suffering no fractures and gaining full sensation throughout his body.
“All the nurses in the hospital were getting sick of me because I every five or 10 minutes I was like, ‘What’s the score? What happened?’” he said.
Keyes’s season was in jeopardy back in August when it was discovered that he had a narrow spinal column. He missed almost a week of practice after describing a tingling sensation in his hands after hitting somebody.
“At first, they told me my football career was done, but they researched it, and I kept going from one doctor to another trying to get more information,” Keyes told the Register-Guard on Aug. 24 when he returned to participate in his team’s final fall scrimmage.
Now, after just the third game of the season, his football career is really done.
“You have to look at the bigger picture,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “His family was involved. We had some very in-depth, soul-searching types of discussions. This incident was one, much more serious than one that occurred during fall camp, and two, I don’t think any of us want to go through that again. That’s way too scary and I feel very fortunate that he can walk away and be totally normal and lead a productive life.
“That’s the best thing that happened in all this. The hardest part is that a lot of these young men’s identity is wrapped up in being a college football player and that’s the hardest transition.”
Much to his credit, Keyes is already planning for the future. He wants to be a coach someday and will try to absorb as much as can from the Oregon coaching staff while he finishes school in Eugene.
Keyes, who has a two-year old daughter, Imani, who lives with her mother in southern California, is surprisingly handling this situation well considering how much he will miss the game.
“I love football dearly,” Keyes said. “I really don’t know how to respond or react to being out here and not getting ready to help my team win a game this weekend.”
Keyes recorded two tackles and deflected one pass this season.

Belisle’s broken foot

ends his season
Another key Duck is lost for the season as Oregon junior offensive tackle Mike Belisle suffered a broken foot in Saturday’s win.
“I thought Mike Belisle had made serious strides toward being a starter at right tackle,” Bellotti said. “He played very well and he’s out for the season most likely now. Those become opportunities for other people. That’s the best way I can put it.”
Jeff Smith is a sports reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached at [email protected].