Young starter Dykes delivers

By Joe Scalzo

As a 14-year-old high school freshman at Chaney, the lineman was given a chance.

In the summer of 1999, Chaney High football coach Ron Berdis looked at his roster and saw a huge hole at tackle. Then he looked at one of his freshmen and saw a huge solution.

The solution’s name was Keilen Dykes, a 6-foot-2, 235-pound 14-year-old who had completely dominated in junior high.

“Why not give the kid a shot?” Berdis thought.

Well, precedent, for one thing. Freshmen simply didn’t start at Chaney. Brad Smith didn’t. Anthony Floyd didn’t. Both were Division I prospects who later played in the NFL. Sure, Dykes was special, like those two. But could he handle it?

He talked it over with his coaches. Then he talked about it with Dykes.

“The kid was used to having his way, to being the biggest and strongest kid on the field,” said Berdis. “That was the conversation we had. I told him, ‘If we put you back down with the freshmen, you will dominate. You will be a force. But we could use you here, if you’re willing to take the step.’ ”

Dykes said yes. No freshman would turn that down, especially not a school with Chaney’s tradition. Problem was, no freshman could know how hard it would be to play at that level. Dykes, a few weeks shy of his 15th birthday, would be facing players who were 17 or 18 and had spent their high school careers in the weight room. Dykes practiced for maybe two hours in middle school. Soon he would be doing doubles in August heat. Of course, if he wanted to cool off, he could bask in the chilly reception he got from a few seniors.

“It was rough,” Dykes said. “People would look at me funny. They’d been there for four years and hadn’t played yet. It was supposed to be their time. They wanted to play.

“They’d be like, ‘Who’s this guy?’ ”

If this were a fairy tale, this would be the part of the story where Dykes overcomes the doubters and proves he belongs. But life isn’t that simple. Dykes struggled. But he began a pattern that would repeat itself the rest of his career.

Knocked down? I’ll get back up. Not good enough? I’ll get better.

“I got my butt kicked so much, I wanted to do something about it,” Dykes said. “You either man up and play harder, or you get ridden out.”

After a rough stretch early in the season, he became a capable starter by the end of the season. Over the next three years he grew into a dominant two-way player, using his soft hands to snag passes at tight end, while wreaking havoc from his defensive end spot. He helped lead the Cowboys to three straight postseason appearances and garnered a truckload of postseason honors.

But as Dykes developed as a player, he lagged behind as a student.

“When he was younger, he was really mesmerized by all the all the tradition at Chaney and all the guys who had played before him,” said Berdis. “I remember pulling him aside and saying, ‘Listen, you have the potential to be as good as you want to be.’ He had a huge frame, he was bull strong and he had a great work ethic in the weight room. But I told him, ‘You’ve got to take care of the business at hand.’ ”

That meant the classroom. But Dykes didn’t listen, at least at first. He fell behind — math was his biggest problem — and by his senior year, he loomed as a 0probable Proposition 48 student, meaning he’d have to sit out his freshman year of college — no games, no practices — while he got his grades in order.

Sitting out was unthinkable, so Dykes opted to attend night school during the winter and spring of 2003. From Monday through Thursday, he went to high school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, worked out in the afternoon, then went back to class from 5 p.m. to 9. He had to give up varsity basketball — Dykes had been a starter —and much of his free time, but he got the grades and qualified academically for his school of choice, West Virginia.

“Some teachers really stepped up to the plate over the past two years,” said Berdis. “They met with him one-on-one and got him squared away.”

Dykes arrived in Huntington as a 6-4, 255-pound defensive end, yet his initial impression was, “Dang, these guys are huge.” That lasted one day. The team started hitting and, said Dykes, “I knew I could play.”

He redshirted that first season, then emerged as a starter at defensive end as a freshman. He eventually shifted inside to tackle, earning first team All-Big East his junior and senior years.

Dykes briefly considered entering the draft after his junior year, but opted to return (he was projected as a second-day selection) in order to improve and make a run at a national title.

Things went according to plan until the last week of the regular season. Ranked No. 2 in the country and needing a win over struggling Pitt to clinch a berth in the national championship game, the Mountaineers lost quarterback Pat White to injury early on, then lost the game. A few weeks later, they suffered another big loss when Rich Rodriguez left the team to take the job at Michigan.

“The Pitt game was probably the low point of my career,” Dykes said. “Then it just went lower with Coach Rod leaving. You’re sitting there wondering what’s going to happen and then it hits you that you have to go to Arizona to play Oklahoma [in the Fiesta Bowl].

“The cards were stacked against us.”

The Mountaineers rallied around Coach Bill Stewart, pasting the Sooners 48-28 as Dykes finished his career on a high point. But the best moment of his college experience had come a few weeks earlier when Dykes walked across the stage at his graduation ceremony to accept a degree in athletic coaching education.

“A lot of people didn’t think I’d do it,” he said. “There was no better feeling than that. A lot of young guys, all they think about is the NFL. But getting that degree. ...

“It was a great feeling.”

Berdis kept track of Dykes throughout his career, taking pride in his athletic career and even more pride in his academic success.

“He had to learn from his mistakes,” said Berdis. “But it all worked out. He became our poster child. We’d bring him into the weight room and the study table. We’d say, ‘You listen to him. Hear it from him.’ ”

Dykes, now 6-4 and 305, comes from a strong family — his father James, for instance, has been to every one of his son’s games since pee-wee football —and Berdis thinks that background has helped him make the most of his ability.

“If he makes it in the NFL, and I’m confident he will, I’m sure he’s really looking forward to taking care of them [his parents],” said Berdis.

Before he could think about his pro career, Dykes had to absorb one more hit. After playing in the Senior Bowl, Dykes wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine in February, something he’s used as motivation over the past two months.

“He felt a little slighted, but I told him, ‘Don’t give it another thought,’ ” said Berdis. “He can play in that league.”

The NFL scouts seem to agree. Dykes has had visits with the Cardinals, Vikings, Seahawks and Bengals in recent weeks. It’s hard to know what — or whom — to believe in the weeks leading up to the draft, but Dykes is confident he’ll get picked. Every time he walked past Chaney High’s wall of legends, seeing pictures of players like Frank Sinkwich and Jerry Olsavsky, he dreamed of joining them.

“Hopefully I’ll be the next guy on that wall,” he said.

To this point, Dykes has always been in control of his career. He chose to play varsity. He chose to play at West Virginia. He chose to do the work, to put in the time to make himself better.

Now he must sit back and wait for someone else to choose.

He doesn’t care where he goes — when asked which team he cheered for growing up, Dykes laughed and said, “You can’t put that in the paper” — just as long as he goes.

“You just have to wait and see,” he said. “Whatever team picks me, that’s my new favorite.”

scalzo@vindy.com