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Hard work paying off for Stevens
  
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By Ryan Boldrey
There were many roads Keenan Stevens could’ve taken when he graduated from Lewis-Palmer in 2006.
He had a scholarship offer to play Division I-AA football at Portland State. He also had offers for a preferred walk-on spot at four Division I schools; San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah and Colorado.
Stevens knew he would not have the chances that lay before him again, and he didn’t want to regret anything later on in life.
“I figured you only live once so I might as well go Big 12 because it’s the biggest conference there is,” he said, stating his plan was just to work as hard as he could and if it worked out, great, and if not, he would know he had tried his hardest.
Apparently his hardest was harder than anyone else in Boulder.
After red-shirting his freshman year at CU in ‘06, he saw action in one game in ‘07. When spring practice concluded at the end of the ’07-’08 school year Stevens was awarded the John Wooten Award, an honor that is presented annually at CU by the coaches to the player with the most outstanding work ethic.
Entering the ‘08 season, the anthropology major knew playing time would still be tough to come by. Despite being No. 2 on the depth chart at center, he was competing behind three-year starter, and now St. Louis Ram, Daniel Sanders, the lone offensive lineman from CU to earn all-conference honors last season.
Instead of getting discouraged, however, Stevens took advantage of having such a skilled player in front of him and learned what he could from him, like how to read defenses better, how to direct the offensive line and how to dominate the mental aspects of the game.
As a rising fourth-year junior this fall, Stevens is in contention for the starting job along with sophomore Mike Iltis.
“You want to play your junior and senior year,” said head coach Dan Hawkins. “For me, I think he is doing an awesome job, the guy is working hard and he’s a great kid, he sacrifices and he’s all about it. It’s a matter of just continuing to plug away and we’ll see what happens. He’s definitely done a nice job and he’s proved himself to be a real consistent guy and that’s important.”
What Stevens hopes happens, and believes, is that he will be lining up at center when it’s time for the Buffaloes’ first snap of the year when they host Colorado State on Sept. 6 at Folsom Field.
One man who likely won’t miss that if it happens is Stevens’ former high school coach, Tony Ramunno, who makes a few trips a year up to Boulder for Hawkins’ high school coaches’ clinics as well as to watch his former player practice.
“It’s doubly-rewarding for me,” Ramunno said of his trips to Boulder. “Learning football from a great coach like Hawkins and getting to see one of my players up there practicing. His [Stevens’] attitude is just tremendous.”
That attitude and eagerness to learn has been there all along too. During the spring of Stevens’ senior year at Lewis-Palmer he began leaving school at 2:30 p.m. and driving to Boulder to watch the Buffs practice.
“I was able to see how the offense worked and to sit in meetings and watch film with the guys and develop a relationship with the team so they knew who I was when I came in that fall,” he said.
“I was also able to see that it’s a completely different level of practice from high school, so I knew what to expect when I came in and knew how hard I had to work.”
That hard work is paying off for Stevens, and he knows that if he can earn his way into a starting position at CU the sky is the limit. To him, the NFL is not out of the realm of possibility.
“I feel if I work as hard as I can and the opportunity arises I’ll take advantage of it,” he said.
And if not?
We will have one hard-working anthropologist on our hands.
He had a scholarship offer to play Division I-AA football at Portland State. He also had offers for a preferred walk-on spot at four Division I schools; San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah and Colorado.
Stevens knew he would not have the chances that lay before him again, and he didn’t want to regret anything later on in life.
“I figured you only live once so I might as well go Big 12 because it’s the biggest conference there is,” he said, stating his plan was just to work as hard as he could and if it worked out, great, and if not, he would know he had tried his hardest.
Apparently his hardest was harder than anyone else in Boulder.
After red-shirting his freshman year at CU in ‘06, he saw action in one game in ‘07. When spring practice concluded at the end of the ’07-’08 school year Stevens was awarded the John Wooten Award, an honor that is presented annually at CU by the coaches to the player with the most outstanding work ethic.
Entering the ‘08 season, the anthropology major knew playing time would still be tough to come by. Despite being No. 2 on the depth chart at center, he was competing behind three-year starter, and now St. Louis Ram, Daniel Sanders, the lone offensive lineman from CU to earn all-conference honors last season.
Instead of getting discouraged, however, Stevens took advantage of having such a skilled player in front of him and learned what he could from him, like how to read defenses better, how to direct the offensive line and how to dominate the mental aspects of the game.
As a rising fourth-year junior this fall, Stevens is in contention for the starting job along with sophomore Mike Iltis.
“You want to play your junior and senior year,” said head coach Dan Hawkins. “For me, I think he is doing an awesome job, the guy is working hard and he’s a great kid, he sacrifices and he’s all about it. It’s a matter of just continuing to plug away and we’ll see what happens. He’s definitely done a nice job and he’s proved himself to be a real consistent guy and that’s important.”
What Stevens hopes happens, and believes, is that he will be lining up at center when it’s time for the Buffaloes’ first snap of the year when they host Colorado State on Sept. 6 at Folsom Field.
One man who likely won’t miss that if it happens is Stevens’ former high school coach, Tony Ramunno, who makes a few trips a year up to Boulder for Hawkins’ high school coaches’ clinics as well as to watch his former player practice.
“It’s doubly-rewarding for me,” Ramunno said of his trips to Boulder. “Learning football from a great coach like Hawkins and getting to see one of my players up there practicing. His [Stevens’] attitude is just tremendous.”
That attitude and eagerness to learn has been there all along too. During the spring of Stevens’ senior year at Lewis-Palmer he began leaving school at 2:30 p.m. and driving to Boulder to watch the Buffs practice.
“I was able to see how the offense worked and to sit in meetings and watch film with the guys and develop a relationship with the team so they knew who I was when I came in that fall,” he said.
“I was also able to see that it’s a completely different level of practice from high school, so I knew what to expect when I came in and knew how hard I had to work.”
That hard work is paying off for Stevens, and he knows that if he can earn his way into a starting position at CU the sky is the limit. To him, the NFL is not out of the realm of possibility.
“I feel if I work as hard as I can and the opportunity arises I’ll take advantage of it,” he said.
And if not?
We will have one hard-working anthropologist on our hands.
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