Mac O’Keefe won me over last year as a lacrosse player by putting up an incredible 78 goals in 2019’s college lacrosse season. O’Keefe knows how to get open on the lacrosse field better than everyone else that does it. He finds seams between defenders, he finds open lanes on the back side of defenses, and don’t even think about playing zone against him.
Mac O’Keefe has a field awareness that is leaps and bounds beyond that of his peers, and I would wager to guess that his success as an off-ball sniper is going to continue at the pro level, most likely the PLL.
As a shooter, O’Keefe has what appears to be an odd release at first, but a trained eye will notice that it’s “purposely” compact, and he hides his stick behind his head or body on every shot, moments before extending into his release.
So yes, Mac O’Keefe has won me over and I made sure to watch Penn State every opportunity I had last year. To me he’s the most exciting player on their team to watch go to work.
In this video I talk about the various lacrosse concepts and strategies Mac O’Keefe uses to get himself open on the lacrosse field. It’s not just bad defense that allows O’Keefe to feast. It’s his ability to see what defenses are doing, allowing him to create offense for his teammates. No one “creates offense” as an off-ball player more than Mac O’Keefe.
