JACKSONVILLE BEACH — At the end of January, just before the pre-National Signing Day recruiting contact period closed, Fletcher High coach Ciatrick Fason instructed junior defensive back Elijah Keys to arrive to the weight room early and dress in a presentable fashion. A team jacket, gray sweatpants and black Under Armour shoes sufficed.
Keys had a visitor planning to make a special trip into Duval County, incoming UCF defensive backs coach Brandon Harris. From the start of the year, the 6-foot-2, 175-pound cornerback stood out as a priority recruit on the perimeter for the Knights.
“He knew he wanted a ballplayer,” Keys said. “It just felt right. That connection, knowing that’s the first player he wanted for a position group at a new school, I just knew he meant straight business.”
And following a few spring trips to Orlando, and gaining a sense for Harris’ style in position-group meetings and film study, Keys made a business decision of his own — choosing UCF among his 17 reported Division I offers on March 29.
Here are five things to know about UCF’s coveted corner commit.
1. Elijah Keys allowed only 4 catches during junior season
Keys earned All-Gateway Conference honors at cornerback during his junior year, recording six pass breakups. He allowed just four receptions when targeted, according to Fason.
“Early, (opponents) were trying to target him. When they realized he wasn’t giving up nothing, it was like they stayed away,” Fason said. “We played a couple teams trying to run double moves on him, and he never bit for it. That’s when we kind of knew that he had established himself.”
Fletcher squared off with a handful of Northeast Florida’s most potent passing offenses during the 2024 season, including Nease, Mandarin and Flagler Palm Coast. In addition to his accolades in coverage, Keys added 12 solo tackles — including a near-safety in a road win at Sandalwood.
Fason, who rushed for 1,783 yards and scored 19 touchdowns at Florida before embarking on a two-year NFL career with the Minnesota Vikings, said Keys’ length and patience resembles that of four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Antonio Cromartie.
“A lot of people don’t know how to control their length,” Fason said. “Antonio did a great job of controlling his length, and he could tackle. Antonio’s going to be in your hip pocket, and he could run. Elijah reminds me of him a lot.”
2. Elijah Keys coached by 2 former D-I defensive backs at Fletcher
On film, Keys’ technique stood out when Harris evaluated cornerbacks in the 2026 class, Fason said. That can be at least partially attributed to the Senators’ alumni-heavy coaching staff, which features two assistants who suited up for Division I secondaries.
Fletcher defensive backs coach/secondary coordinator Roy Polite started 20 of his 47 career games at Middle Tennessee, recording one interception in all four of his college seasons. Malik Reaves was a four-year mainstay for Villanova, earning All-Coastal Athletic Association second-team honors in 2015.
Like Fason, Polite told Keys that his best chance at reaching the college level would happen if he flipped sides of the line of scrimmage.
“He could have swore he was a receiver once upon a time, but I always told him he’d be a mean corner just by his size,” Polite said. “All he had to do was lock in with his craft and his technique.”
About the ability to follow in his coaches’ footsteps at Fletcher, Keys added: “Especially at the D-I level, only so many people make it there. I’ve got to take heed to the coaching and stay humble throughout the process.”
3. Elijah Keys added 10 pounds of muscle since 2024 season
Fason revamped Fletcher’s offseason weight training regimen this winter, focusing on powerlifting disciplines such as the snatch, power cleans and push presses. Keys jumped at the chance to get stronger, packing on an estimated 10 pounds of muscle since the end of his junior year.
He’s now listed at 175 pounds, yet still smooth in his cuts and when flipping his hips to turn and run with speedy wide receivers.
“He used to hate the weights,” Polite said. “He’s a big fella now, so we’re looking for more physicality out of him.”
4. Elijah Keys has family roots in Orlando
Keys is a lifelong Jacksonville-area native, but he will be at “arm’s reach” when he moves to Orlando, surrounded by immediate family and friends.
Keys’ father, Griffin Keys, attended Evans High School — located about 6 miles northwest of Downtown Orlando — and played for the Trojans’ football team from 1994-97. His grandmother still lives in Clermont, about 20 miles farther west into Lake County.
Griffin Keys recalled seeing a few UCF football games in their former home, the Citrus Bowl (now known as Camping World Stadium), and visiting a much smaller campus in those days.
“When I was coming up, the couple times I went out to UCF, it was all trees. None of those buildings ever existed,” Griffin Keys said. “To see them have their own stadium and football facility now is amazing to me.”
5. Elijah Keys’ father coached UCF RB Myles Montgomery
Griffin Keys coached football, too — as part of Fason’s Star Ready youth organization in Jacksonville. And one of his former players might be the centerpiece of the UCF offense this coming fall, running back Myles Montgomery.
Montgomery graduated from Fletcher in 2020 and surpassed 4,000 career rushing yards for the Senators. He earned All-First Coast Offensive Player of the Year honors as a junior from the Florida Times-Union after compiling 2,124 yards with 20 touchdowns.
“He’s a great, great young man. Awesome to coach,” Griffin Keys said. “I was very tough on him, and I think some of that mentality shows now in the way that he plays.”
Elijah said Montgomery provided some insight about new UCF head coach Scott Frost and the change in vibe surrounding the program since last year’s disappointing 4-8 finish.
“He said that Coach Frost is the most natural coach ever,” Elijah Keys said. “I met him, my parents met him, my family met him. That’s a coach I would play for, and that’s who I want to be with.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: 5 things to know about Elijah Keys, Fletcher’s 6-foot-2 cornerback and UCF football commit
Reporting by Chris Boyle, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
