Courtesy of the DailyIndependent.com
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Spend about three minutes talking to
Luke Keller.
Chances are, somewhere in those 180 seconds Morehead State's senior linebacker will tell you about the most important thing in his life.
His Moses-mighty Christian faith.
The way the 6-foot-2, 220-pound senior from Lucasville, Ohio, sees it, he and his wife Abigail needed that faith after their nearly three-year football ordeal: six surgeries — three to repair a broken ankle in 2013, including one on the wrong limb, and three to fix his left wrist he broke last season; and the worst of them all — a bacterial infection that rampaged throughout his body.
Last Saturday, however, was a time to rejoice. Instead of missing his entire senior season, Keller played special teams and most of the second half at middle linebacker — at least 40 snaps, which was about 20 more than expected.
"There's been a few times where I can truly say I've just felt God's presence," Keller said. "Being on the field (Saturday) thinking the doctors told me I'd never play again … and then, all of a sudden, obviously God had bigger plans."
Almost gone.
Keller was almost a sad statistic.
He became a born-again Christian the beginning of his senior year at Valley High School in Lucasville. Before that, things seemed fine the fall of 2011.
They weren't.
Keller was about to start his senior year, yet he told his parents he was giving up football. He was going through "a really, really bad depression," and had been to counseling but nevertheless was considering suicide.
Until he mounted the family lawn mower one day.
"I was out mowing my grass one day," he said. "At this time I was not a believer, but (I said) 'God, if you are real, say something to me, let me know something, and I felt like He said, 'I want you to follow me.'
Luke didn't believe what he thought he heard, so he asked a second time — and he said he received an answer.
"You can ask my neighbors, I dropped down to my knees, and in the middle of my yard I was bawling my eyes out, and from that day on, I've been a Christian, and my life's completely changed," he said.
Keller, 22, didn't know the half of the changes coming.
His final year at Valley in '11, he ran 206 times for 1,833 yards and 34 touchdowns, and he caught 44 passes for another 800 or so plus nine scores. The Ohio High School Athletic Association named him Division V Offensive Player of the Year.
Where would Keller go to college? Here's where the depth of Keller's faith appeared again — in the form of MSU's mascot.
"A lot of people are going to think I'm crazy for this, but I prayed about it and prayed about it and prayed about it," Keller said. "I had a few places I could walk on, a few places that were going to offer full rides."
 "Honestly, I saw eagles flying in my dreams, so I came to Morehead. That's the truth, that's the God's honest truth. I firmly believe that God speaks to us in our dreams sometimes."
After his freshman season in the Eagles' backfield, MSU head coach
Rob Tenyer moved Keller to middle linebacker because he thought there were enough talented running backs.
"We just felt like he was one of our top three, four, five football players on our roster …" Tenyer said. "We felt like, hey, maybe he could make an impact on defense."
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