EMCC quarterback Ty Keyes collects 2023 NJCAA Region 23 MVP football honors

SCOOBA – Rewarded for helping lead East Mississippi Community College to a second straight MACCC championship and an upcoming appearance in next week's NJCAA Division I Football Championship Game against Iowa Western, EMCC quarterback Ty Keyes has been named the 2023 NJCAA Region 23 Most Valuable Player. The announcement was made this week by the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference.

Keyes, a Southern Miss bounceback, has also been previously tabbed the MACCC's All-North Division Offensive Player of the Year as well as having been chosen a three-time MACCC Offensive Player of the Week during the 2023 regular season. He also earned NJCAA Offensive Player of the Week honors following EMCC's 47-23 home win over then-No. 4 Jones College on Sept. 14.

Entering next week's national championship game having thrown for NJCAA-leading totals of 3,089 passing yards and 32 touchdowns through the air, Keyes has completed 58.7 percent (239-of-407) of his passes for the season. With three 300-yard passing efforts on the year, including season-high totals of 472 passing yards and six touchdown passes against Holmes, Keyes has become the first EMCC quarterback since 2022 Walter Payton Award winner Lindsey Scott Jr. to have thrown for 3,000 or more yards in a season. Scott, who led the EMCC Lions to their 2017 NJCAA championship, went on to collect most outstanding offensive player national honors in FCS football a year ago at the University of the Incarnate Word. While having thrown for multiple touchdown passes in nine of 12 games to date this season, Keyes has also become the first EMCC signal-caller since 2023 Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Chad Kelly, of the Toronto Argonauts, to have tossed 30 or more touchdown passes in a season. Kelly, who went on to play at Ole Miss, quarterbacked the 2014 EMCC Lions squad to a 34-17 national championship victory over Iowa Western in Mississippi Bowl VII played at Biloxi High School's Indian Stadium.

In addition to his statistical accomplishments this year, the 6-foot-2, 225-pound Keyes becomes the sixth different EMCC quarterback to garner Region 23 Most Valuable Player honors under the guidance of 16^th-year head football coach Buddy Stephens. Keyes joins previous Region 23 Offensive MVP recipients De'Andre Johnson (2016), Dontreal Pruitt (2013), Quez Johnson (2012), Bo Wallace (2011), and Randall Mackey (2008 & 2009) for the East Mississippi Lions.            

Prior to having signed with Southern Miss in the 2021 recruiting class out of Taylorsville High School, Keyes was a two-time Mississippi Gatorade Football Player of the Year and three-time Class 2A Mr. Football by the Mississippi Association of Coaches (MAC). He led the Taylorsville Tartars to a four-year composite record of 58-4 and three MHSAA Class 2A state championships. Keyes finished his prep playing career with 14,525 passing yards and 155 touchdowns.

Previously rated as an ESPN Top 300 player and listed as the nation's No. 7 dual-threat quarterback as a four-star recruit in 2021, Keyes saw action in seven total games at Southern Miss during a pair of injury-shortened seasons (2021-22). He completed 43-of-82 (52.4%) passes for 636 total yards and six touchdowns with the Golden Eagles.

The 10-2 EMCC Lions will be bidding for their record-tying sixth NJCAA football championship on Wednesday, Dec. 13, in Little Rock, Ark., against the reigning national champion Iowa Western Reivers. Kickoff for the 2023 NJCAA Division I Football Championship Game, presented by Zurich Insurance, is set for 7 p.m. CT at historic War Memorial Stadium, and the game will be televised nationally by ESPNU. Tickets are available at njcaa.org/tickets.