Tammie Dorsey excited USF will honor Keeley

Posted Sep 3, 2009 by Brett McMurphy

Updated Sep 3, 2009 at 10:50 PM

I spoke with Tammie Dorsey today for the first time in a couple of months. She said she’s doing good and said she was “pretty excited” to hear USF officially had announced the Bulls would honor her son, Keeley Dorsey.

Each week, a USF senior will wear Dorsey’s No. 10. Defensive tackle Aaron Harris will wear it Saturday against Wofford. Unlike the other USF jerseys, there will be no last name on the back of No. 10.

“I’m OK with it,” Tammie said. “I’m not upset like I thought I would be.”

Tammie still lives in the Tallahassee area and hopes to attend USF’s game at Florida State on Sept. 26. In the meantime, she said she “most definitely will watch USF’s games on television.”

I’ve written a lot about Keeley, who died Jan. 17, 2007 of natural causes while lifting weights at the school. On Tuesday, I spoke with one of his former teammates, B.J. Daniels about Keeley.

When Keeley was a senior at Tallahassee Lincoln, he started at quarterback. During the season, however, he was asked to move to running back so Lincoln could put a freshman in at quarterback.

That freshman was B.J. Daniels, who is now a redshirt freshman at USF.

“Keeley was switched to running back and I started at quarterback,” Daniels said. “But Keeley embraced it. It was a weird situation. I was taking his position, but he was always helping me out.

“He was that type of guy, a team player.”

Daniels honored Keeley by getting a tattoo on his arm, the same tattoo that was on Keeley’s back: “Enjoy life today, yesterday is gone, tomorrow may never come.”

A few weeks ago, USF held a team meeting. Usually only the seniors speak, but Daniels made it a point to stand up before the team. He wanted them to hear something important.

“I went up and told them, know what wearing No. 10 represents,” Daniels said. “Keeley meant a lot to me.

“He might not have been here long, but he made his impact.”

Another picks contest reminder: Deadline for the first week of The Tampa Tribune/TBO.com USF picks contest is closing fast – not Jim Leavitt 40-yard dash time fast – but it’s getting close pretty darn quick. If you haven’t already, you must register on the site to participate in the contest.

There will be at least 10 questions a week and the more weeks you participate the better chance you have to win one of the prizes at the end of the season.

Also, this year’s contest will compile your weekly/yearly stats and other assorted goodies.

Please click here to participate. Once on the page, if not registered, on the left side of the page is where new users can register. The picks deadline is 7 p.m. Saturday. The top three finishers at the end of the season will receive “prizes galore” (and we’re not talking about a new James Bond character). We’ll have more info on the prizes soon.