In the postgame press conference of Liberty’s season opening win over Radford last November, head coach Ritchie McKay announced that Keegan McDowell had decided to transfer. Now, McDowell has had a change of heart and will return to the Liberty roster in 2020-21.
“I am excited to announce that I am returning to Liberty,” McDowell said in a release. “I have grown so much in the last three years at Liberty both as a player and as a person. Throughout this year as a redshirt, I have realized that Liberty is the place for me, and it is where I want to continue my career as a student-athlete. The culture we have here is second-to-none and I am ready to continue the tradition with my brothers. Thank you to my family, friends, and Coach McKay who have helped me throughout this process. I am proud to represent Liberty and I am ready for an exciting season.”
The 2019-20 season will basically be treated as McDowell’s redshirt season. He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
McDowell is a 6’6″ guard from Cincinnati, Ohio and Moeller High School. He played in 68 career games during his first two seasons at Liberty, including 37 during the Flames’ 2018-19 ASUN Championship squad. He has a career average of 3.3 points per game while shooting 37.1% from three.
He remained enrolled at Liberty during the 2019-20 academic season, even practicing with the team and sitting on the bench for much of the season.
With McDowell back in the fold, Liberty’s 13 scholarships for the 2020-21 season are now full. Elijah Cuffee, Darius McGhee, Kyle Rode, and Shiloh Robinson return, as do Blake Preston, Josh Price, and Marten Maide. Chris Parker joins the team as a grad transfer along with the four incoming freshmen of Isiah Warfield, Drake Dobbs, Jonathan Jackson, and Micaiah Abii.
