Keenan Reynolds Bio, Facts about the American Football Wide Receiver

Quick Facts

It was not by chance that Keenan Reynolds was able to set the records for rushing touchdowns (88) and rushing yards (4,559) by a quarterback in the NCAA top-division as an athlete for the United States Naval Academy.

The 2015 American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, who became one of only four people to have ever had their jersey’s retired by the Midshipmen, was in a league of his own as a college athlete. However, ever since he made it to the National Football League (NFL), Reynolds has had to switch to becoming a wide receiver, a position he had never played before, which has led to him spending his first two professional seasons on practice squads without ever making a regular season appearance.

It might also help to point out that Reynolds has had to balance two careers, one as an American football player and another as a reserve officer in the Navy. This means that while his teammates are actively training in the offseason, he has had to report for naval duties.

Keenan Reynolds’ Bio

Keenan Reynolds was born to Jacqueline and Donald Reynolds on the 13th of December, 1994 in Antioch, a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee. Reynolds’ father, who was a former college football player, introduced his son to the sport when he was five years of age. From that age, Reynolds began playing the sport regularly and was always considered the best player among his peers.

For his high school education and career, the young athlete was enrolled at the Goodpasture Christian School in Madison, another Nashville suburb where he was named the starter on the football team from the first day he joined until he graduated in 2012. Reynolds further earned three more varsity letters as he competed and excelled in four different sporting activities while also being a member of the National Honor Society.

Having led his team to consecutive district championships and also maintained high grades, Keenan Reynolds received offers from a number of college programs, most notably from the Navy and Air Force Academies. He went on to choose to join the Navy because he was impressed with their football record and campus. In the beginning of his freshman year with the Midshipmen, Reynolds was the fourth quarterback on the team. However, in the fourth game of the season, after proving himself by guiding his team to a comeback victory over the Air Force after he was called in following an injury to the starting quarterback, Reynolds was made a starter. This made him the third freshman in Navy school history to ever become a starter.

In 2013, his second collegiate season, Reynolds managed 29 rushing touchdowns, which were single-season records. He also set the record for the most rushing touchdowns (7) in a game by a quarterback in NCAA history. By 2015, Reynolds broke the record for the most career rushing touchdowns in the Football Bowl Subdivision history. Later on, in the season, he broke the same record in the NCAA Division I (85) before going on to set a new one at 88. His performances and records went on to earn him a candidacy for that year’s Heisman Trophy. He finished fifth on the voting list and was further awarded the Pat Tillman Award.

Facts about the American Football Wide Receiver

NFL Career

Keenan Reynold was not invited to the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine after graduating college because it was not clear if he was going to pursue a career as a football player due to his Navy service obligations. It is required for service-academy graduates to serve for about five years as an officer on active duty before pursuing any other interests.

However, because of a short-lived waiver made available by the Department of Defense under the Barack Obama administration, where elite athlete graduates of a service academy are given a chance to defer their active-duty time, Reynolds was able to be drafted in the sixth round with the 182nd overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens.

The record-setting college quarterback joined the Ravens as a wide receiver because his style of play as a triple-option quarterback was not used in the NFL. This meant he had to learn how to play his new found position, and due to the steep learning curve he went through, he was confined to the team’s practice squad for the 2016 season.

The Baltimore Ravens eventually released him on the 1st of September 2017, giving room for him to sign for the Washington Redskins in November 2017. He was again placed on the practice squad of his new team who eventually released him without him playing a single game. Keenan Reynolds is now currently signed with Seattle Seahawks where he hopes to change his fortunes to finally play an NFL game.

Navy Career

Keenan Reynolds currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade in the United States Navy. He is a cryptologic warfare officer assigned to the Cryptologic Warfare Group Six at Fort Meade, Maryland while he is also attached to a reserve center in Nashville.

In the 2018 offseason, Reynolds was in Pensacola, Florida where he was attending an eight-week Information Warfare Basic Course (IWBC) at the Center for Information Dominance at Corry Station.

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