Keith Heyward Jr. (born February 2, 1980) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach who is the defensive backs coach for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

of the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

(NCAA). His football career began at his alma mater,

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the universit ...

, where he started 35 consecutive games as a cornerback for the Beavers. After completing his 4th season with Oregon State, Heyward played professionally. His coaching career kicked off after his professional endeavors, with his most recent coaching positions at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(2014–2015), the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

(2012–2013), the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

(2016), the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

(2017–2020), the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

(2021) and the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the ...

(2022).

Early life

Heyward attended Montclair Prep High School in Van Nuys, California his freshman through junior years. He attended Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California for his senior year, during which he had a 13–1 season as a two-way starter. At Taft, he started at safety on defense and at wide receiver on offense. Even though Heyward was at Taft a single year, he was named "first-team all-league (Northwest Valley Conference); first-team all-city in division 4A by the Los Angeles Daily News; second-team all-city defense by the Los Angeles Times; all-San Fernando Valley first-team defense by the Los Angeles Times; and played in the City vs. Southern Section All-Star game in the summer of 1997." At safety his senior year he recorded 78 solo tackles, 41 assisted tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2 fumble recoveries, 3 blocked kicks and 2 passes intercepted. He returned 14 kickoffs for 372 yards (26.6 average) and one 84-yard touchdown. At offense he caught 37 passes for 722 yards (19.5 average) and had 7 touchdowns as a wide receiver, including a 78-yard TD. Heyward was recruited by Oregon State, Arizona, UCLA, Utah State and Colorado State, but chose Oregon State in the end.

College career

Heyward played college football for

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

. He was a four-year letterman (1997-2000) at

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

, starting 35 consecutive games. Heyward earned All-Pac-10 honorable mention during his senior year. During his final season he played in 2 bowl games, the

2001 Fiesta Bowl The 2001 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, played on January 1, was the thirtieth edition of the Fiesta Bowl and part of the BCS bowl schedule of the 2000 NCAA Division I-A football season. Held on New Year's Day at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizo ...

and the all-star Hula Bowl. Through the course of his college career, Heyward made 88 tackles, accumulated 23 pass breakups and had five pass interceptions. He graduated from OSU in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in communication.

Professional career

Keith Heyward played professionally for the

British Columbia Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

in the Canadian Football League (2001), the

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores, were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, ...

in NFL Europe (2002) and the L.A. Avengers in the Arena League (2004).

Coaching career

Heyward started his coaching as a graduate assistant at

. He worked two seasons at OSU (2005–2006), the first season working mainly with the cornerbacks and the second season with the defensive line through the Sun Bowl. His next coaching position was as the linebackers coach at

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly) is a public university in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, - Cites the location of the university and shows that the university ...

in 2007. While coaching at Cal Poly, the Mustang's defense was ranked first in the Great Western Conference and their total defense third in the league. After coaching at Cal Poly he returned to Oregon State for 4 seasons (2008–2011), this time as the secondary coach. In 2011, Heyward coached second-team All-Pac-12 cornerback

Jordan Poyer Jordan Lynn-Baxter Poyer (born April 25, 1991) is an American professional American football, football Safety (gridiron football position), safety who is a free agent. He played college football at Oregon State Beavers football, Oregon State, wh ...

and safety Lance Mitchell, both of whom earned honorable mention all-conference. During his time at OSU, Heyward also coached future NFL players including: Brandon Hughes, Keenan Lewis, Brandon Hardin, Al Afalava, James Dockery and Suaesi Tuimaunei. Oregon State played in the

2008 Sun Bowl The 2008 Brut Sun Bowl, part of the 2008–09 NCAA Division I FBS bowl season, was played on December 31, 2008 at the stadium of the same name on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso in El Paso, Texas. The 75th annual contest pitte ...

and 2009 Las Vegas Bowl. Following his time at OSU, Heyward became the secondary coach at the

for two seasons (2012–2013). Under Heyward, UW's pass defense in 2012 ranked 23rd nationally and safety Sean Parker had 11 career interceptions. During his time at UW, Heyward also coached future NFL players including: 1st round draft pick

Desmond Trufant Desmond Trufant (born September 10, 1990) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Washington Huskies and was selected by the Atlanta Falc ...

Greg Ducre Gregory Ducre (born January 22, 1992) is an American former professional football cornerback. He played college football at the University of Washington. He signed with the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2014. He has also been ...

and

Marcus Peters Marcus Peters (born January 9, 1993) is an American professional football cornerback. He was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the 2015 NFL draft and has also been a member of the Los Angeles Rams, Baltimore Ravens, and ...

. In those two seasons, the Huskies went to the 2012 Las Vegas Bowl and 2013 Fight Hunger Bowl (he did not coach in the Fight Hunger Bowl). In December 2013, Heyward became the

's defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator for two seasons (2014–2015). "In 2014, safety-outside linebacker Su’a Cravens made Sophomore All-American first team and All-Pac-12 first team, while cornerback-wide receiver-returner Adoree’ Jackson was a Freshman All-American first teamer. Cornerback-safety Josh Shaw was a fourth round

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

draftee." In 2015, USC inside

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

Cameron Smith was named Freshman All-American and Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year. Under Heyward's coaching, the Trojans played at the

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in San Diego, California. Operating since 1978, its current conference tie-ins are with the Pac-12 Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The bowl is held at Snapdragon S ...

(2014) where they defeated

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, and won the Pac-12 South Championship (2015). Heyward was hired as the Oregon Ducks’ safeties coach in January 2017. *Did not coach in bowl game

Personal life

Keith Heyward is married to his wife Cameo. They have two daughters.

References

External links

Las Vegas Raiders profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyward, Keith 1980 births Living people American football cornerbacks BC Lions players Cal Poly Mustangs football coaches Las Vegas Raiders coaches Los Angeles Avengers players Louisville Cardinals football coaches Oregon State Beavers football coaches Oregon State Beavers football players Scottish Claymores players UNLV Rebels football coaches USC Trojans football coaches Washington Huskies football coaches American expatriate sportspeople in Scotland American expatriate players of American football Players of American football from California