Senior Elijah Keely is FHN’s new Varsity Running Back and Corner. Keely leads the team with eight touchdowns, five away from leading the league.

Keely is known by the nickname “Tattoo.” Keely got this nickname because when he was younger, he was told he looked like Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize, a French man named Tattoo from the movie, “Fantasy Island.” From then on, when someone said “Tattoo,” Keely would always answer to it.  The name stuck when he came to North.

“It wasn’t the name that they gave me, I just always answered to it and so it just went from there,” Keely said.

Keely moved to FHN from Maplewood High School. Keely thinks FHN football is different from Maplewood because of FHN’s different division. Keely trains the best he can both on and off season by doing speed and agility workouts to strengthen his football skills for the high school team and a future in college. Due to Keely’s frequent practice and training at Running Performance, located in St. Peters, his teammates expect a lot from him.

“I expect him to make a lot of plays as our new running back,” Varsity Cornerback  senior Trey Flowers said.

As the season progresses, Keely keeps a positive attitude and helps the younger players learn how to become great football players through teamwork, friendly competition, and hard work.

“You never want to give up on any of your teammates,” Keely said. “Always keep your teammates’ head held high. You never want to doubt someone because you never know how they feel about what they did.”

Each football player competes for their spot on the Varsity starting lineup every week. Keely competes with senior DJ Curtis and sophomore Cameron Glenn for the starting running back spot.

“There’s no [permanent] starting running back,” Keely said. “Each running back is very different and has big moments when needed, but we ‘show out’ when we go run a touchdown. We set the bar really high in the game. As running backs, we just want to take our talents to the next level and live the dream.”

Keely hopes to play for Michigan State University after graduating from high school and eventually play for the NFL. He keeps high expectations for himself so he can perform well for both himself and the team. Varsity Head Coach Brandon Gregory believes that Keely has professional potential.

“[He needs to] stay humble and focus in the classroom because sky’s the limit for him,” Gregory said. “He could play for Sunday’s NFL.”