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Up Close & Personal: CB Keaton Ellis offers more than just skill

A State College native, Keaton Ellis grew up in the shadow of Beaver Stadium, surrounded by Penn State football hysteria.

Football is king in Happy Valley. And so it’s easy to imagine a young man like Ellis, who committed to stay home and play for the Nittany Lions, becoming wrapped up in it all.

But that’s not who Ellis is.

As much as football means to the area, and as much as it may mean to the Penn State fans who showed up at State College High School games to see what kind of player the Nittany Lions were getting, Ellis won’t be defined by the sport. He’s a volunteer. He’s a self-described jokester. He’s a student. In Ellis, Penn State is welcoming someone who has already acquired perspective to go along with his athletic talent.

Ellis performed well at Penn State's Elite Camp last summer.
Ellis performed well at Penn State's Elite Camp last summer.
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“I worked the local Special Olympics and this Bunny Hop that we had here, and just the little things,” Ellis said, “Saying hi, asking people how their day was, stuff like that. … You just have to recognize how blessed you are.

“You know, just being nice, treating people how you want to be treated. I was taught that from an early age, from my parents, just try to help people out as much as possible and just be a good person.”

As is often the case with recruits who commit early – he announced for the Lions just before the start of his junior year – Ellis was thrust into a leadership role as the first member of Penn State’s 2019 class. His Twitter feed is filled with messages to those recruits that also considered the Nittany Lions, along with words of encouragement directed at teammates and fellow commits.

It’s not a task he took lightly.

“I think it’s pretty cool, being the first commit,” he said. “I took it upon myself to try and build the class, and the coaches really got on me about leading the class, trying to build it as much as possible. That was a huge part of it, just being the first one. You want the best players on your side. That’s the goal of recruiting, and I take pride in that.”

Since the time he committed, Ellis has earned elite status, too. He cemented himself at the cornerback position after there was some ambiguity as to where he would play, eventually earning his fourth star from Rivals and ascending from an unranked recruit to the No. 3 overall prospect in Pennsylvania back in December.

Also lining up as a wide receiver on the offensive side of the ball, the 5-foot-11, 177-pound Ellis made his versatility clear with his high school numbers, accumulating more than 1,000 all-purpose yards during his senior season with the Little Lions and scoring 17 touchdowns.

But the Penn State coaching staff viewed him as a cornerback after watching him showcase his tools at various camps they hosted, and that assessment hasn’t changed.

“I had lots of conversations with [Terry Smith] as far as that,” Ellis said. “I like playing both positions, but corner is probably my favorite, so that’s why I was leaning toward that as far as going to camps as a corner instead of a wide receiver.”

Ellis said that speed is his greatest asset, so it’s no surprise that he became a standout on both sides of the ball in high school.

“I like my speed and quickness at the corner position,” he said. “I like my length, I think my length is pretty good. Just being able to go downhill and make tackles. I pride myself on that, and it’s a huge part of football, obviously. I try to be as physical as possible.”

Ellis’s proximity to campus has allowed him to forge a close relationship with Smith, whose duties include coaching Penn State’s cornerbacks. Ellis said he made several unofficial visits just to have conversations with Smith and other members of the Nittany Lions’ coaching staff, adding that he also communicated with them frequently via text and FaceTime.

Now that he’s on campus - Ellis enrolled in January - he has even greater access to Penn State’s coaches than he did before. On the opposite side of College Avenue in University Park, a new set of challenges await. And football is only one of them.

“If you work hard, things will fall into place after that,” Ellis said. … “I just want to be focused, not get distracted and just do my best in the things I can control.

“On the field, off the field, I’m just going to work really hard and try to be the best football player, student and person I can be.”

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