Junior college running back Keoshian signs with ISU

[December 20, 2012]  NORMAL -- The Illinois State football program and Redbird fans received an early holiday present Wednesday, when Glendale (Calif.) Community College running back Collin Keoshian signed a national letter of intent to continue his career at ISU.

Keoshian, a native of Santa Clarita, Calif., will begin classes at Illinois State in January and will have two years of eligibility remaining with the Redbirds. With the loss of senior running back Darrelynn Dunn, ISU head coach Brock Spack was looking for another powerful running back to fit into his offense for next season. With Keoshian at 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, Spack believes he has found that player. "We were looking for a big, strong back that we could use for our inside running game, and Collin fits that mold well," Spack said. "He has very good ball skills to go along with his running abilities, which will allow us to throw the ball to him out of the backfield. With his size, he also gives us the opportunity to protect our quarterback better in our protection schemes. I think Collin hits a home run for us because of his abilities to excel in every aspect of what we want a running back in this offense to do, and we are excited to have him in the program." Keoshian rushed for 1,265 yards and 11 touchdowns last season for the Vaqueros and averaged over 140 yards per game on the ground. He amassed a season-high 326 yards on the ground with three touchdowns in a 31-19 win at San Diego Mesa early in the season, and two weeks later he rushed for 186 yards and three scores against Santa Monica. Keoshian finished the year with games of 184 and 193 yards rushing. He began his collegiate career at BYU, where he redshirted in 2010 and got experience as a member of the practice squad. He then transferred to the College of the Canyons in 2011, before his standout 2012 season at Glendale Community College. Keoshian was a standout player during his prep career at Santa Clarita Christian School, which competed as an eight-man football program. In his four-year career, Keoshian tallied 6,537 rushing yards and 102 touchdowns on the ground. His yardage total is second-most all-time in the state in eight-man football, and his touchdown total is a state record in the eight-man division. [Text from news release received from Illinois State University]