LANTANA – Keshawn Barker is a player you want on your team.
The Santaluces 2025 linebacker puts his whole heart out on the field, as he makes sure to execute on his plays with authority. If one takes the time to watch his film, it is evident from start to finish.
Before we show the Hudl film for the 5-foot-11, 193-pound linebacker, let us go through his statistics. They are as follows from this past season:
•96 total tackles
•10 tackles for loss
•3 forced fumbles
•1 sack
Best individual game: Week 9 against Spanish River in 52-34 win with 15 tackles, 3 tackles for loss and 1 forced fumble
Now you can watch the Hudl film for yourself right below.
“I feel like I’m a very high IQ, versatile linebacker that can play on the inside, outside, Mike, Will, Sam,” said Barker, who has no offers at this time. “It doesn’t matter. I’m ready to play.”
Barker on his recruiting process at this time:
“It’s been pretty slow,” Barker said. “I’m hoping to have a good senior season so it can pick up. But overall, I’m just trying to trust the process.”
Barker spoke on how junior season went with Santaluces.
“It started off slow but it picked up toward the end,” Barker said. “I had a couple of big games. Made first team all-county. I feel like it could have been a little better, but it was still amazing.”
Santaluces (8-4 final record in 2023) lost in the Class 4M-Region 3 semifinal round to Monarch, 50-27. But in that one, Barker recorded 12 tackles, two forced fumbles, and one tackle for loss – a great showing despite the ultimate outcome.
“Monarch game, it was battling a little bit because of our quarterback situation,” Barker said. “He was coming off a very big injury and was trying to perform, trying to do what he can for his team. Defense wise, I had hurt my shoulder, so I was still trying to be there for the team. We still showed up. It didn’t come out the way we wanted to. But at the end of the day, it was a learning process for us. We’re ready to win it all this season.”
Barker went on to speak about how his offseason is going right now.
“It’s been pretty good,” Barker said. “I can tell the way my body feels. Coach Hector (Clavijo III) and the coaching staff have been putting us to work. As a team, we’re getting stronger, faster, and a lot better, and building more team chemistry.”
For workouts, most of the days so far this summer have been indoors with the weight room and drills in the school gymnasium. This has been due to inclement weather for the most part.
“With us, we’re very good at going with the flow,” Barker said. “We always trust Coach Hector to put us in the best position possible. At the same time, we gotta be ready for whatever. We live in Florida. You never know what’s going to come. You never know what kind of weather we’re going to have that day. So you gotta be ready for whatever.”
Barker made sure to show some love and respect to our two Mucksteppers who are with Santaluces:
•AnaTay Smith (Pahokee native; 2025 athlete)
•Samuel Putmon (Belle Glade native; Santaluces defensive coordinator)
Barker on Smith:
“AnaTay Smith is a very good player,” Barker said. “He plays both ways for us. He’ll come down and hit you as a safety and he’s going to route you up at receiver. Pick your position. Which way you want to play him?”
Barker on Putmon:
“Coach Putmon is very smart,” Barker said. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s going to put you in the best position possible in order to make yourself look very good. I just trust him to lead our defense in order to shut out teams and win games.”
Barker also made sure to shout out Clavijo III, who is the Santaluces third-year head coach.
“Coach Hector is very funny,” Barker said. “Smart guy. Very competitive. He doesn’t care if he’s down by 25 or up by 45. The last few seconds, he’s gonna try to score no matter what. He brings the energy, and I love him to death. He’s a great coach, and I glad he came here.”
With that said, Barker is just amped up for his upcoming senior season at Santaluces. It cannot come soon enough for him.
“It’s gonna be a lot of excitement,” Barker said. “A lot of Santaluces winning here. You better pick the right side.”
Muck City Media Enterprises 
Leave a comment