A report from 247 Sports’ Matt Zenitz on Tuesday afternoon states that Tennessee senior linebacker Keenan Pili is expected to return for the 2024 season. Tennessee Athletics has not made an official announcement at the time of this publication.
Pili redshirted his true freshman season at BYU before serving a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Orlando, Florida from 2017-2019. Pili returned to the BYU football team after the conclusion of the mission.
Pili would then go on to play four more seasons at BYU from 2019 to 2022 and was named a captain for his final two seasons. The Las Vegas, Nevada native suffered a torn ACL in his redshirt junior season in 2021 and was forced to miss the remainder of the season after starting the first three games. Pili was able to bounce back for the 2022 season, though, and ended the year as BYU’s second-leading tackler.
Pili transferred to Knoxville for the 2023 season and projected to be an impact player on the Vols’ defense alongside Aaron Beasley at the linebacker position. Pili started the Vols’ season opener against Virginia but suffered an injury that forced him to miss the remainder of the season.
Josh Heupel said in the middle of the season that Pili, a “difference-maker” on the team to him, was “fighting his butt off” to return to the field.
“Our young guys are continuing to step up at that position, but Keenan is a special leader and still has been even while he’s been on out,” Heupel said of Pili in October. “One of the first ones in the building. Constantly watching film. I think he’s been a real help to the young guys that are out there on the football field.”
Because the 2023 season was Pili’s sixth and final year of eligibility, Pili will need to apply for a medical redshirt from the NCAA for missing all but one game of the current season. Medical redshirts can be applied for by players who had a season-ending injury early into the season, along with a few other factors.
Pili recorded two solo tackles and two assisted tackles in his lone game this season against Virginia in Nashville.
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Here’s a look at Pili’s career production at both BYU and Tennessee:
2016 (BYU)
- Redshirt season
2019 (BYU)
- 25 total tackles, two passes defended, one sack
2020 (BYU)
- 72 total tackles, one pass defended
2021 (BYU)
- 31 total tackles, 1.5 sacks
- Only played in three games before suffering a season-ending ACL injury
2022 (BYU)
- 62 total tackles, one pass defended, one sack, one forced fumble
2023 (Tennessee)
- Four total tackles
- Only played in one game before suffering a season-ending injury
Tennessee senior linebacker Keenan Pili is expected to return to the Vols for another season instead of heading to the NFL, sources tell @247sports.
Pili, a former BYU transfer, missed most of the year due to injury. Was a two-time team captain at BYU.https://t.co/O5dxjyk2jo pic.twitter.com/UpGW502Uzp
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 5, 2023
