Hall of Fame
A two-time All-American defensive lineman on UNA football teams in 1994 and 1995, Marcus Keyes helped lead the Lions to two NCAA Division II Football National Championships and went on to a professional football career that spanned a decade.
A Taylorsville, Miss., native, Keyes, had 80 solo tackles and 60 assists for 140 total stops in his UNA career. Those totals included 14 tackles for loss of 39 yards, seven fumbles caused, one recovered, nine sacks for 51 yards, three pass breakups and 31 quarterback pressures.
As a junior in 1994, Keyes was part of a UNA team that went 13-1, winning Gulf South Conference and Division II National Championships. He started all 14 games, making 82 tackles. He was selected first-team All-GSC, first-team All-South Region and first-team CoSIDA All-American. He was also named GSC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Central Arkansas.
As a senior in 1995, he helped lead UNA to a perfect 14-0 record as part of one of the most dominant defensive units in Division II history. The Lions’ Purple Swarm defense led Division II in total defense (209.0), rushing defense (56.8) and scoring defense (10.6) as UNA won another GSC title and a third straight Division II National Championship.
He made 58 tackles, caused three fumbles and had three quarterback sacks and 14 tackles for loss.
Keyes was again first-team All-GSC and All-South Region and was named All-American by CoSIDA, Football Gazette and the Associated Press.
The Lions ranked No. 1 in the nation in every Division II poll during Keyes’ career with the Lions as UNA had a combined 27-1 record.
Following the 1995 championship run at UNA, Keyes played in both the Blue-Gray All-Star Classic and the Senior Bowl. He was drafted in the seventh round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. He spent the 1996 and 1997 seasons in Chicago before suffering an injury. In 1998 he was with NFL Europe as part of the Scottish Claymores. He then played in the Arena Football League from 2001-07 with the Florida Bobcats (2001), Carolina Cobras (2002), Georgia Force (2002-07) and the Grand Rapids Rampage (2007-08). He was a second-team All-Arena Football selection in 2007.
Keyes was named to the UNA Team of the Decade for 1989-98, the Gulf South Conference Team of the 1990s, the 50th Anniversary UNA Football Team (1949-99) and the GSC Team of the Quarter Century (1973-97).
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