Pough Got Away From Bulldogs, Looks For Home With Bills
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By DERON SNYDER
Keith Pough’s mother was a Bulldog. So were an uncle and a grandfather. A cousin played in the NFL after earning All-America honors as a Bulldog. Another cousin went from all-conference tackle to assistant coach and has been the Bulldogs’ head coach since 2002!
With all of that history and so much family in Orangeburg, S.C., and after growing up in the Bulldogs’ locker room, at their practices and on their sidelines, how on earth did he land at Howard University instead of South Carolina State?
“That’s the million-dollar question,” says Pough, a stellar linebacker who went undrafted in April but immediately signed a free-agent contract with the Buffalo Bills. “I’ve been hearing that since my freshman year.”
S.C. State took it for granted that Pough simply would follow his relatives’ trail. He wasn’t highly recruited by major colleges as he finished high school (a summer growth spurt before his junior season took him from 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds to 6-feet and 180 pounds), but S.C. State, Howard and every other member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference was interested.
He had offers to walk on at LSU and Clemson, but the combination of Howard’s prestige and academic tradition – not to mention a full scholarship while State banked on familiarity and loyalty – led him to the Bison. No one knew he would evolve into a bona fide NFL prospect. “This was never in the cards for me,” he says. “I had to be realistic and not focus so much on football and look at academics.”
As a senior last season, Pough was named the MEAC Defensive Player of the Year and won several other honors while setting a Football Championship Subdivision career record with 71 tackles for loss. He became the first Howard player invited to the East-West Shrine Bowl and captained the Bison to a 7-4 record, Howard’s best season since 1998.
“There was a change in mentality with Coach Flea and the new staff he brought with him,” Pough says of Gary Harrell, who returned to revive his alma mater in 2011. “Every coach on the staff either coached or played at Howard. They were part of the glory days and brought the pride back.”
Pough had plenty of pride as a player but grew immensely in other areas after his sophomore season at Howard. Former strength & conditioning coach Darryl Haley inspired Pough to mature and read books for enlightenment, beginning with “As a Man Thinketh.” An uncle, Jimmy Leach, instilled a love for health and nutrition. Pough began to expand his mind, push his body and study football film more than ever.
“The summer before my junior year was a turning point,” says Pough, who majored in physical education with a minor in secondary education and is one semester shy of his degree. “I was going through some very trying times and was involved in a physical altercation on campus. Some things happened to make me realize that’s not who I want to be or where I want to go in life. I had to make some changes from the path I was headed and I had an epiphany.”
The revelation has led him to Orchard Park, N.Y., where he’s a strong candidate to make the Bills’ final roster. There, just a short drive from team headquarters, Pough shares a two-bedroom apartment with a fellow undrafted rookie. Pough, now listed at 6-foot-3 and 236 pounds, has dived into his new profession, pursuing it like a loose football in a scrum.
“We pretty much just go back and forth to the facility,” he says. “On the weekend I might venture off and see town a little bit. I’ve been to see Niagara Falls.”
That awesome sight brings to mind his favorite Bible verse, I Corinthians 15:10: “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
Perhaps fate has directed his path from the start: The Bison and the Bills have virtually identical helmet logos. “I thought I was a Bulldog through and through, but I was looking at more than football,” Pough says. “I don’t think any other institution is better than Howard.”
Take that, S.C. State.
