Keck was born in Mission Viejo, California, to parents Eric and Beth Wacome Keck. He was raised in Northfield, New Hampshire with his siblings Zion, Phoebe, and Zachri. He attended Winnisquam Regional Middle School, and Winnisquam Regional High School, before receiving a full scholarship to the Hotchkiss School. He was an all-state hockey player, a New Hampshire state champion in the 400m, a Founders League champion in the discuss, and placed 2nd in the New England Championship for the 100m. Keck received a full scholarship to study at Stanford University, where he studied sustainability science and practice, computer science, and Psychology.[1]
In March 2023, he had the highest name, image and likeness valuation of any Stanford athlete, being valued at $383,000.[3] By October 2023, he was valued at $529,000.[4]
Keck played only six games of high school football prior to college and joined the Stanford Cardinal in 2017. He played from 2018 until 2022. He was an outside linebacker until his fifth year. Keck was a staple of the Cardinal special teams units playing on kickoff, KOR, punt, punt return, and field goal block. He was known for his physicality, speed, and effort on special teams under Coach Alamar and eventually earned playing time as situational 3rd down player on the Cardinal defense. Then, in 2020, Keck earned the starting spot at Outside Linebacker and was also listed as a backup Inside Linebacker. The Cardinal's season was cut short due to the pandemic but Keck finished with 17 tackles, 1 TFL, 3 PBUs, and 5 QB hurries, in 5 games. While in his sixth year in 2022, he became an edge rusher but sustained an injury in the first game, so he did not compete for the rest of the season. He had 27 tackles, 4 PBUs, 2 TFLs, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 fumble recovery throughout his football career.[3]
On June 13, 2022, Keck was named as one of fifteen college athletes to have signed to the WWE's second class of their Next in Line program, which he found through a social media consultant at his school.[7]
