BOWLING GREEN — Riley Keller is headed south — but not very far.
The Whitmer quarterback announced his commitment to Bowling Green on Friday, giving the Falcons a key piece to their 2020 recruiting class.
Keller is a three-star prospect, according to 247Sports.com, and he has three years of starting experience for the Panthers. He chose Bowling Green against six other offers, including three Power Five schools — West Virginia, Iowa State, and Mississippi — as well as an offer from rival Toledo.
247 ranks the 6-foot-2 senior-to-be as the top-ranked pro-style quarterback in Ohio in the upcoming recruiting class. He was a second-team All-Ohio performer for the Panthers as a junior in the 2018 season.
Falcons coach Scot Loeffer had spent years recruiting Keller, dating to his time as the offensive coordinator for Boston College. Loeffler, a former quarterback and longtime coach of the position, addressed a key need for the Falcons’ roster with a local player, which has been an early theme for the new Falcons coach.
Keller becomes the fourth player from a Lucas County high school to join the Falcons’ class of 2020, joining Northview’s Trent Simms and Matt Fortner and Anthony Wayne’s Bryce Boyer.
As of now, Keller is projected to walk into a roster situation favorable for a young quarterback. The Falcons have only two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster after two-year starter Jarret Doege opted to transfer last week.
Ironically, Doege landed at West Virginia, which made a scholarship offer to Keller under the previous coaching staff.
Redshirt junior Grant Loy and redshirt freshman Bryce Veasley are the scholarship quarterbacks currently at Bowling Green, but the Falcons’ coaching staff likely will try to add another quarterback this summer.
Recruits in the class of 2020 can sign as early as December with their school of choice.
Keller landed on the radar of most college coaches in the second quarter of Whitmer’s 2016 season opener against Start, when the freshman at the time entered the game after starter Shoe Sanders was injured. He helped the Panthers to a 26-point second half in a 29-20 win and has been a fixture in the position since. Keller set the Whitmer school record for passing yards in a game in 2016 with 377 against St. John’s Jesuit.
He has led the Panthers to a 29-7 overall mark, including 19-2 in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference. The only league losses during that time have been to Central Catholic. He is closing in on 6,000 passing yards in his career, as he is 381-of-708 passing for 5,942 yards with 68 touchdown passes.
Despite having an injury filled 2018 season that ended with an injured right elbow in the Panthers’ Division II playoff game against Dublin Coffman, Keller was 139-of-241 passing for 1,896 yards and 21 scores.
Keller is the second cousin of longtime Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who graduated from Findlay High School and played at Miami (Ohio).
AyZiggy!!!🔶🦅#Committed #TALONSUP20 pic.twitter.com/QqLjUDFM4w
— Riley Keller (@KellerRiley14) May 17, 2019
First Published May 18, 2019, 3:06 p.m.
