The walk-on no one could stop

There are a lot of places Keithen Valentine might have expected to be this spring, but Manhattan, Kan., was never one of them.

“I’ve taken a long road to get where I am,” Valentine says with a chuckle.

Where is he? Squarely in the Kansas sports media spotlight and poised to chase his dream of playing for a big-time college football program, despite a series of obstacles that almost seem absurd.

His life changed April 19 when he rushed for more than 100 yards in Kansas State’s spring game, dazzling fans and confounding the sports writers.

“We know virtually nothing about this wide-eyed, 5-foot-9, 195-pound junior who stormed onto the scene,” the Manhattan Mercury newspaper wondered after his debut. “Nowhere in the spring media guide is his name even listed, let alone a bio. He arrived at K-State with little to no fanfare, but dashed his way through a pretty decent White defense to give us something to chew on until August when the season gets underway — all while running on a high-ankle sprain he suffered last Monday.”

Quick recap:

Valentine played running back at Scotlandville High School. Louisiana recruiting expert Lee Brecheen described him as a guy “who wasn’t a prospect, but he was a good high school football player.”

Accordingly, not one school offered him a scholarship.

“It was crazy,” Valentine says, thinking back to watching his competitors sign and move on.

After graduation, Valentine finally enrolled at Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorhead for the spring semester of 2006.

His first football season there was marred by a pulled hamstring—while, of all things, warming up for his first game—just one in a series of hardships the young man has overcome. Last fall, he had an average season, but sparkled in the Mississippi junior-college all-star game in which he was named MVP.

But it still wasn’t like colleges were beating down his door.

He might have ended up at Nicholls State or McNeese, which offered—or Louisiana-Lafayette, which didn’t. But Valentine really wanted to play in a BCS conference.

After Valentine’s freshman season, Kansas State tight ends Coach Frank Leonard, who scouts the state of Mississippi, had cultivated a relationship with Valentine, which continued through his two seasons in junior college.

K-State, however, had no scholarships left to offer.

“I liked their history with walk-ons,” Valentine says. He also saw that there were no running backs in the junior class.

So Valentine, knowing no one and paying his own way, went to K-State after graduating from Mississippi Delta, enrolling this past January.

“It’s different from Baton Rouge, but it’s something I kind of need,” he says. “It’s not the city. It’s kind of laid-back, there are no troubles, and I just chill out.”

Perhaps, but he put a buzz into the Big 12 Conference on April 19 in the Wildcats’ spring game. Valentine ran for 104 yards on 15 carries.

Said K-State Head Coach Ron Prince that day: “I think it is very clear he is going to help us at that position. How much, how often and where is what we will try to figure out. I think he did a really terrific job. He has the kind of personality—and is the type of guy—you want in your locker room.”

Valentine, who won’t turn 21 until next September, most likely will be listed No. 2 in the fall in Kansas State’s two-deep depth chart at running back. Remarkable, yes, but overcoming obstacles is nothing new for a guy who:

• Was born to a mom who was just 15 at the time.

• Attended a high school that had just started football, choosing Scotlandville Magnet for its academics.

• Fought through a minor knee injury as a junior.

• Saw his playoff hopes dashed as a senior when Scotlandville was declared out of the postseason by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association because it used ineligible players (Valentine was not one of them).

• Injured that hamstring before his first game in junior college.

• And then, he even sprained his ankle the Monday before his sparkling K-State debut in April.

The hamstring injury is a story in itself. Among the dozen or so friends and family there to watch Valentine’s Mississippi Delta play against Pearl River for his first game was his uncle, Cleve Dunn Jr.

“He basically lost his whole year,” Dunn says, wincing at the recollection, and knowing how big the first year in junior college is for recruiting.

“I was just so excited,” Valentine recalls. “I was running at full speed like I was in a game. And I popped my hamstring. But I kept on coming back that season. I was, like, lying to myself that I was ready—and I wasn’t—and I popped it like three more times that season.”

Dunn is the brother of Valentine’s mom, Deana McClain, who also overcame some obstacles. She graduated from Southern University and is a nurse.

Her son has the same type of work ethic, says Jimmy Miller, a personal trainer who has worked extensively with Valentine. Miller admits he wasn’t sure Valentine was a Division I prospect, but “he’s made a natural slow progression with tremendous determination.”

So determined that he’s willing to wait until next spring to see if K-State will actually put him on scholarship. Just another obstacle. Remember that ankle injury? A teammate fell on it during practice and, just like that game against Pearl River, friends and family were coming to watch. He lived in physical therapy all week, getting treatment twice a day.

Then he actually hurt it on the first play of that spring game, but shook it off and then ran wild.

“If I hadn’t gone through all I had, I probably would have had a big head,” Valentine says.

His uncle knows better.

“He has,” Dunn says, “beaten the odds.”

Kansas State opens its football season Aug. 30 in Manhattan against North Texas, another school that showed interest in Valentine but didn’t offer. And you can bet Valentine’s family and friends will be there, keeping their fingers crossed during pre-game warm-up.