Kansas Pregame 8-Man Top 8: Brock Keith

Kansas Pregame polled 8-Man coaches earlier this month who voted for the top four seniors they coached against this season. Kansas Pregame staffers then used those votes to develop a Top 8 list of seniors for each division. Check out another Top 8 capsule below, and find the complete list of Top 8 selections, and the honorable mention list, here for 8-Man I and here for 8-Man II.

A four-sport athlete, Meade’s Brock Keith has seen no shortage of success since winning his first state championship as a freshman, though, this title came on a race course rather than a football field.

In spite of a broken collarbone that kept him out for football, Keith went on to have a successful cross country season, qualifying for state as a member of the 2020 1A state cross country champs, along with his brother Logan – one of the best runners in the state entering this 2024 track season – and led by head cross country and track coach Garrett Daugherty.

The following fall of his sophomore year, Keith helped Meade to two more state titles in one sports season, making it back-to-back in XC and winning the other on the gridiron.

It was in Bryan Luetters’ first and only season as head football coach of the Buffaloes that the Buffaloes won their fifth overall and first 8-Man title in program history, going 13-0 with their 22-14 state championship win over Little River their only single-digit contest of the 2021 season.

Keith, despite being just a sophomore, was vital to the team’s success with 98 tackles and three interceptions at linebacker, along with 608 yards total offense and five TD receptions at wide receiver.

The underclassman earned All-State honorable mention and second team All-League honors on defense and was set to become a centerpiece for Meade with the graduation of a talented senior class.

Later in his sophomore year, Keith was a member of yet another state title team, when Daugherty coached the men's program to their first ever state title in track and field. The Keith brothers helped win the 4x800 together and took sixth in the 4x400, while Brock also qualified individually in the 400.

That next fall, after Luetters had taken the head coaching job at Liberal, former Meade assistant Clint Kuhns took over the head coaching position, and proved capable of keeping the Buffaloes on a winning track.

One major boon for the first year head coach was Keith, who rushed for 930 yards and 17 TDs as a junior in 2022, and added 237 receiving yards with two TDs, along with three more scores off kick returns. Defensively he recorded 90 tackles, 16 tackles-for-loss, two sacks, and two interceptions.

“Brock’s biggest strength on the field is his pure athleticism,” Kuhns said. “He has won multiple state championships over multiple sports. It takes a special athlete to achieve that. His ability to make a guy miss on offense was big and he refused to let one man bring him down. Defensively, Brock had an incredible recall. He would see a play from the scout team and know exactly what the opposing offense was trying to run.”

The junior’s play helped Meade to a 9-2 record with their only losses coming against Wichita County – the eventual 8M-I state champs – in the regular season and Hill City in the state quarterfinals.

Keith again earned All-State honorable mention, along with first team All-League recognition.

Entering his senior campaign, Keith made the decision to skip cross country and fully focus on football, where he took on more responsibility both on and off the field.

“Brock took on the role of leader this season,” Kuhns said. “He did so by holding his teammates to a high standard. Practices were highly competitive this year and Brock played a big role in that. He also devoted himself to the weight room and made sure everybody else did, too. He spent his weekends helping ref (youth) football and spent a lot of time with the younger kids in this community and they looked up to him for that. He is a great role model for them.”

Meade lost just one game in the regular season to defending state champs, and eventual state runner-up, Wichita County. in Week 6, and entered the playoffs at 6-1 with eventual 8-Man II state runner-up South Central as the only other team to come within single digits in a 22-14 Week 1 Meade victory.

The Buffaloes won their first round playoff game over Pratt-Skyline, but had a tough second round draw against a 10-win Ell-Saline team that proved too much for the Buffaloes defense in a 68-20 loss. Meade finished at 8-2 on the year and Keith will graduate with an impressive varsity career record of 30-4.

Keith’s senior stats were as spectacular as ever with his third consecutive 90 tackle season (94 tackles, three tackles-for-loss, five interceptions, and a forced fumble), along with 109 carries for 1,416 yards and 26 TDs and 29 receptions for 642 yards and 13 more scores offensively.

“Brock played a key role in our success this season and over the past three seasons for us,” Kuhns said. “When Brock decided to concentrate on just football this season, having dual sported with football and cross country over the last two, we decided to give him a much bigger role and leaned on him pretty hard this season. He made some tough games easier to game plan for, that's for sure.”

Besides his Top 8 nod, Keith earned first team All-State and All-League, along with earning a nomination as both an offensive and defensive Player of the Year finalist for Sports in Kansas. 

Keith is currently a member of an 8-2 Meade basketball team and will pursue another state track title along with his brother in the fall, but plans to continue his football career after high school and currently holds a scholarship offer from McPherson College with considerable interest from other NAIA and junior college programs.

“My time as a coach is short in comparison to others, but I think Brock would rank high on any coach’s list,” Kuhns said. “He is one of the best athletes I've seen come through Meade in quite some time. Players like that don't come around that often and we are going to miss him next season.”