{"id":253873,"date":"2025-08-01T17:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T17:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/253873\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T17:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T17:53:10","slug":"former-tennessee-football-linebacker-keenan-pili-tried-out-for-nfl-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/253873\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Tennessee Football Linebacker Keenan Pili Tried Out for NFL Team"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rockytopinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/428038_20230902_FB_Virginia_KL_069.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-125110\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"Keenan Pili\" width=\"564\" height=\"365\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/428038_20230902_FB_Virginia_KL_069-300x194.jpg\"\/><\/a>NASHVILLE, TN \u2013 September 02, 2023 \u2013 Linebacker Keenan Pili #11 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the game between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Tennessee Volunteers at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN. Photo By Kate Luffman\/Tennessee Athletics<\/p>\n<p>Former Tennessee football linebacker Keenan Pili has gone through a tryout with the New Orleans Saints, according to a report from <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/nick_underhill\/status\/1950317477688463446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1950317477688463446%7Ctwgr%5E08cb72bdf4265f55f2e9bbb3b5af39f0713e0ad0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.canalstreetchronicles.com%2F2025%2F7%2F30%2F24477137%2Fsaints-hold-tryouts-for-several-players\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Nick Underhill<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Pili went undrafted this year after a two-year stint with the Vols. However, he was injured early in both seasons, forcing him to miss the majority of games while at UT.<\/p>\n<p>Pili\u2019s tryout with the Saints was held on July 29. He was one of two linebackers the team took a look at, joining Cincinnati\u2019s Jared Barlett. Barlett has already been signed by the Green Bay Packers, though.<\/p>\n<p>More From RTI:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rockytopinsider.com\/2025\/08\/01\/whats-next-for-tennessee-football-after-behemoth-recruiting-week\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">What\u2019s Next For Tennessee Football After Behemoth Recruiting Week<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This past season, Pili was a team captain for Tennessee and a starter when healthy. He played and started in six games before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the win over Florida. He was replaced by Jeremiah Telander the rest of the way, but was still a consistent presence in the locker room and on the sideline for the team.<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, Pili transferred in out of BYU. In his first year with Tennessee, he played in just the opening win over Virginia before going down. A tricep injury forced him to watch the remainder of the season from the sidelines.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to his time in Knoxville, Pili played four seasons at BYU. He rounded out his time in Provo as a team captain who led the team in 2022 with 62 tackles. He also contributed four tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Pili initially enrolled at BYU in 2016. However, he served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Orlando, Florida, from 2017-19. This pushed back his career after coming in as a three-star recruit from Timpview High School in Provo.<\/p>\n<p>Pili is now 27 years old as he looks to begin his professional career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASHVILLE, TN \u2013 September 02, 2023 \u2013 Linebacker Keenan Pili #11 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the game&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[7,50314,896,55,2572,2571,6,397,1209,6364],"class_list":{"0":"post-253873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-keenan-pili","10":"tag-new-orleans","11":"tag-new-orleans-saints","12":"tag-neworleans","13":"tag-neworleanssaints","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-saints","16":"tag-tennessee-football","17":"tag-tennessee-vols"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114954790844997464","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}