ASU's Keith Abney plays football now, but he was a national skating champion

Most football players grew up playing another sport. Basketball, baseball. Plenty have competed in track too — the linemen usually competing in the throwing events with the skill position players excelling in the sprints and jumps. But you would be hard-pressed to find another football player who has the same background as Arizona State true freshman Keith Abney II.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound defensive back was a competitive roller skater. And no this just wasn't a hobby to keep him busy on the weekends. Abney was actually a four-time national age group champion in the sport and he traveled extensively while competing.

"Everybody likes to go fast and it was like track on wheels," he laughed. "It's a lot of fun to be fast at something and be able to beat all the other kids."

Abney grew up in Waxahachie, Texas, about 15 minutes north of Dallas with a population of about 40,000. There was a skating rink in the neighborhood where he spent a lot of time. The owner of the venue is the one who took notice of his ability and encouraged him to get into competitive racing. So he did.

Not only was he a national champion, but in 2017 while competing in Lincoln, Nebraska, Abney set a record in the 300-meter sprint that had been standing for a decade.

Not only did the sport feed his competitive fire, it offered opportunities he might not have otherwise had. One of his fondest memories was getting to tour the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Abney started out in that sport when he was young and stayed with it until COVID-19 shut down recreational facilities such as skating rinks. By the time the pandemic passed, Abney had decided to focus on football since there were more college and professional possibilities.

Defensive backs coach Bryan Carrington sees where that sport benefited Abney's development in football.

"Being a DB (defensive back) I think that has a lot to do with his lower half development," Carrington said. "Being on skates for all those years really creates fluid hips. It thickens the legs and muscles there where he needs it whereas a lot of DBS are more slight. To be a freshman where he is right now at 183 pounds, I would attribute that to his lower half and the skating being an influence."

Abney sees other benefits.

"I've always had a lot of endurance, have to be able to play a lot of plays and that probably came from skating," he said. "I feel like that especially helps. Then there are things like agility, explosiveness, things like that. It really helped when it came to those things too."

In his two varsity years at Waxahachie High School Abney starred on both sides of the ball, finishing with over 1,000 all-purpose yards and 20 tackles. He had had 19 catches for 396 yards and six touchdowns as a senior, with two interceptions and a fumble recovery. He was a three-star prospect by all the major recruiting services with 247 Sports ranking him as the No. 103 athlete prospect in the nation. On3 pegged him as the No. 75 athlete and ESPN placed him 119th.

He had a number of offers with Kansas, Pittsburgh and Boston College the major ones. After that, there were some lower-profile teams such as Colorado State and NAU. Abney was also sought after by all three service academies, but ultimately committed to Utah State.

That changed with the coaching turnover in Tempe. Carrington, who had been on staff at TCU and helped that school to a CFP title game appearance last season, was brought in to coach the secondary on Kenny Dillingham's staff because of his recruiting success and roots in Texas.

Carrington said TCU had some high-profile commitments at Abney's position, so he had not recruited him, but he did remember him. So when Carrington arrived at ASU in December and started evaluating prospects, Abney was a player he singled out early.

It also helped that ASU had secured a pledge from running back Kyson Brown, another prospect from Texas and an athlete with whom Abney had played youth football growing up. When ASU started talking to him, Abney quickly got an endorsement from Brown, who had committed two months earlier. It didn't take long for Abney to be brought into the fold.

"This was a kid that played 6A football in Texas, was playing both ways, 100 snaps a game, receiver, kick return, corner at a high level and just his background of not missing a workout for three years. They had to lock him out of the weight room at times in high school. That all says a lot," Carrington said. "Then add three-time national champion in skating. Football coaches love multi-sport guys, that just shows their competitive nature. Those are guys you want when you're building a program."

Abney, who is majoring in sports business and is in the school's Barrett Honors Program, has played seven games, mostly on special teams, He snagged his first career interception in the Sun Devils' 49-13 loss to Oregon last Saturday.

Dillingham praised Abney late in fall camp, but the true freshman happens to be at a position where the Sun Devils have depth and experience in veteran corners Ro Torrence, Ed Woods and Demetries Ford. Abney says he is learning from those players as well as nickleback Jordan Clark, his roommate on the road and one of the team's most respected leaders.

"Even when not in game, I'm watching, trying to learn from the older guys and. then apply it. I've learned a lot just by watching how they prepare for games," he said. "Trying to take it all in so I am ready when my time comes."

Carrington has no doubt that time will come.

"He's super competitive and he's a big critic of himself. He wants to compete," the coach said. "He wants to earn the respect of the guys around him and he's done that in a short time. I'm expecting great things from him."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How speed skating prepared Arizona State's Keith Abney for football