Kentucky pulling out ‘boss moves’ as star receiver Dane Key nears decision

The University of Kentucky football program within the next month could earn one of its biggest recruiting wins in recent memory.

Dane Key, a consensus four-star wide receiver who plays for Frederick Douglass High School, anticipates making his college commitment on Oct. 28, which is his brother Devon’s birthday. Devon Key, a standout at Western Kentucky University after starring for Bryan Station High School, is part of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs organization.

Dane and his father, former Wildcat Donte Key, hope that Devon will be able to make the ceremony. The Chiefs are scheduled to host the New York Giants that week on Nov. 1, a Monday Night Football prime-time broadcast on ESPN.

“He can pay for it,” Donte said with a laugh when the possibility of a charter flight was brought up. “Dad’s done with paying.”

Dane — whose final four list of teams consists of Kentucky, Michigan, Oregon and South Carolina — has valued the input of his brother and other family members in making his decision. He intends on consulting them over the next month before making a final call on where he’ll go.

He and his family were in Columbia, S.C., over the weekend for an unofficial visit with the Gamecocks. They weren’t out of the stadium before UK recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow — while the Wildcats were celebrating their 16-10 victory — called Dane to let him hear what was happening in their locker room.

“That’s why they call him the ‘Big Dog,’” Donte said. “He makes boss moves.”

Wan’Dale Robinson, a former Kentucky Mr. Football who transferred from Nebraska and who leads the Southeastern Conference in receiving yards heading into week five, ended up on the call. Dane and Robinson have built up a relationship, and the former has joined a chorus of Kentuckians and former Douglass stars — true freshmen Dekel Crowdus and Jager Burton — trying to sell the coveted wide receiver on joining his hometown team.

“Sometimes we don’t even talk about football when I talk to Wan’Dale, but whenever we do talk about ball, he’s always like, he plans on leaving soon, so he says I can come in and do what he’s doing now,” Dane said. “I can be the face of the program or, even just, him getting all those targets in the game, making those big plays, he says that can be me when I’m gone.”

Head coach Mark Stoops during his Monday news conference stressed the value of having any receiver put up the kinds of numbers that Robinson is putting up this season. That it’s a former all-state player who played in the Wildcats’ backyard makes it all the sweeter.

“For all the people that used to use that against us in recruiting, I understand that,” Stoops said. “We’re gonna use anything we can as well. But I think now, there’s no stopping us from recruiting talented wide receivers and getting that speed. You may say other people have higher numbers, but you can look at what we do and what we want to do, and as we get better wide receivers, as we get greater skill and speed, we will open things up even more and more. That comfort level with what we’re doing is getting better and better.”

That was Stoops’ last full comment before he left that media scrum, but in a brief banter back and forth with reporters as he left the room, he made a reference to Dane Key — “players in this state who make catches over other guys” — without naming him.

For all its success recruiting in-state standouts, Kentucky under Stoops has yet to land a skill player of Key’s caliber. If he were to choose Kentucky, Key would be the highest-ranked offensive skill player from Kentucky to ever sign with UK, and the second-highest ranked offensive skill player to sign after Lynn Bowden in the 2017 class. Per 247Sports’ rankings, he’s the No. 36 wide receiver in the country and the No. 231 player overall.

The biggest factor in Key’s decision will be how well-positioned each program is to develop him for a shot at playing in the NFL. That’s part of what makes Michigan an attractive destination; offensive coordinator Josh Gattis was formerly the wide receivers coach at Alabama for a year and is heavily credited in the development of Henry Ruggs III and Jerry Jeudy, two former first-round draft picks, as well as current Tampa Bay star Chris Godwin, whom he coached while at Penn State.

Dane said while Kentucky was in the midst of its search for a new offensive coordinator, he was told by UK’s staff it was in part to improve its chances with players like himself.

“What we’re looking for as a family is who’s going to teach him to get to the next level, and a wide receiver coach who can teach him how to run routes, how to get open better,” Donte said. “Those things are important, because skill alone isn’t going to get you there. It only takes you so far. He’s got the talent, but that skill and technique training, that’s what we’re really looking at to make sure that program he goes to really fits him.”

Taking official visits has been somewhat hectic — he had to go home and shower up quickly before an overnight drive to Ann Arbor, Mich., earlier this month, and had a quick night’s rest before trekking to Columbia, S.C., over the weekend — but Dane and his family understand how blessed he has been to have the experience he has had.

The schools that really want him recognize how fortunate they are to be under consideration, too.

“It really makes it tough when you have the options that he has, at such great programs, to make a decision,” Donte said. “That’s why me, his mom and his brother have been like, ‘Slow down, take your time and make a decision. If they want you, then they’ll be there.’ He’s not going to make a rushed decision, regardless of where it’s at, and whenever he makes a decision, it’ll be where he’s gonna be.”

Kentucky’s rankings

The Wildcats’ 2022 recruiting class currently ranks 24th nationally in 247Sports’ projections and 27th nationally in Rivals’ list. At least six of UK’s commitments in the class are rated as four-star prospects by one recruiting service; five are considered four-star recruits by both (Alex Afari, a defensive back out of West Chester, Ohio, is a four-star prospect in Rivals’ rankings but not on 247Sports).

UK is ninth among SEC schools in 247Sports’ rankings and 10th in Rivals’ rankings; Mississippi State is ranked 19th overall by Rivals but 27th by 247Sports.

The average rating of Kentucky’s recruits, per Rivals, is 3.36, which puts it inside the top 25, and in the same spot as Florida, UCLA, and Michigan, and ahead of several schools who are ranked in front of it in the actual rankings, including SEC rivals Arkansas, Mississippi State and South Carolina.

Kentucky’s current average score per recruit on 247Sports — 88.20 — puts it seventh overall among SEC teams, behind Alabama, Texas A&M, LSU, Georgia, Florida and Missouri.

Transfer portal

The NCAA Football Oversight Committee recently recommended to the organization that, for the 2022 recruiting cycle, it allow teams to sign 25 incoming players — the current allowance — but from there allow them to sign an additional player for each player it loses to the transfer portal, up to seven players. The recommendation, viewed as a one-year bridge to a more permanent rule to be defined later, is expected to be discussed next week.

Stoops earlier this week was asked about UK’s success using the transfer portal this past offseason and how it might fit into the building of his program in the future.

“(I) definitely look forward to finding the right people to complement our football team and help our team,” Stoops said. “I think we did a really good job of finding guys that fit in and came here and are helping us, and if that can help us in the future, we’ll do it.”

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