It is safe to say that Bryan Keys broke the mold when it came to the running back position at Penn, and to this day he is among the standard-bearers in a program that has seen more than its share of success.
A three-time letterwinner, Bryan set the school’s single-season rushing mark as a junior in 1988 when he ran for 1,165 yards. His senior year, he shattered that mark by going for 1,302 yards, obliterated the single-game rushing record when he ran for 249 yards against Brown on October 14, and set six other school records. He finished that season fourth nationally in all-purpose yards per game, seventh nationally in rushing yards per game, and seventh in points per game.
Nearly 20 years later, Bryan’s senior-year rushing mark is still third on Penn’s all-time list, his junior-year yardage is eighth, and his single-game mark has been overtaken three times. However, Bryan still holds the school records for rushing touchdowns over a career (34), total TDs in a career (35), and all-purpose yards in a season (1,676 in 1989). When Bryan graduated from Penn, he had accumulated 3,137 rushing yards on 609 carries, a 5.2 average; at the time, only Ed Marinaro of Cornell had racked up more yards in a career among Ivy players.
Bryan -- who had 15 100-yard rushing games in his career -- was a first-team All-America as a senior, a third-team All-America as a junior, and a two-time unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection. As a sophomore, he was honored as the Ivy League Rookie of the Year (this was prior to freshman eligibility in football). Bryan was a co-captain of the 1989 squad, earned the George A. Munger Award as Team MVP in both 1988 and 1989.
Led by the dynamic running back, Penn won a share of the 1988 Ivy League title with Cornell, as both teams went 6-1; the Quakers also won all three non-conference games that year for a 9-1 overall ledger.
