Big Time Legacy Recruit
Heading by recruiting ace Vince Marrow the Kentucky football team has made keeping the home state players a priority. Over the last few years, the Cats have done just that. In fact, four of UK’s 18 incoming commits are from the Bluegrass State. Let’s look at one of the biggest home state players with this Kentucky Recruiting Profile- Dane Key.
Another Top Kentucky Player
A four-star wide receiver from Frederick Douglass High School in Lexington Key announced his commitment at the high school on October 28th. He chose the Wildcats over Michigan, Oregon, and South Carolina. 247 Sports ranks the six-foot-two, 190-pound wide receiver as the number one player in the state of Kentucky. Nationally he’s listed as the 39th best receiver in the 2022 class and the 221st best player overall.
He led his team to the Class 5A title game where they lost 38-26 to South Warren. Key capped off the season by winning the Paul Hornung Award for the best player in the state.
A huge congrats to 2021 Paul Hornung Award Winner and UK commit Dane Key, a senior wide receiver at Frederick Douglass High. The award recognizes the TOP 🏈 player in the state! He had 959 yards and 9 TDs receiving this season!
📷 David Carter, Carter Extreme Photography.#fcpsky pic.twitter.com/C7wwDrqYWK— Fayette County Public Schools (@FCPSKY) December 9, 2021
Furthermore, he plans to enroll early at Kentucky.
Legacy Recruit
Key’s father Donte’ was an All-State player at Franklin-Simpson High School and a four-year letter winner in basketball also. Key attended the University Of Kentucky graduating in 1995. During his career Key finished with 152 tackles. He’s probably best remembered by the Big Blue Nation for his outstanding game against Louisville in 1994. In the first contest between the two schools in 70 years, Key forced a fumble that set up the Wildcats’ winning score. If that wasn’t enough he picked off a pass late in the game to preserve the 20-14 victory. As a result, Key was named National Defensive Player of the Week by Sports Illustrated.
In a family filled with great football players, Dane’s brother Devin was an outstanding player at Western Kentucky and is now a defensive back for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Building Another Pipeline
Here at Last Word On College Football, we’ve talked a lot about the pipeline Kentucky has with the state of Ohio. Now the school has its own in-state one with one of the best programs in the state. Key joins wide receiver Dekel Crowdus and offensive lineman Jager Burton as Douglass players wearing the blue and white. In addition to safety, Ty Bryant in the 2023 class has also pledged to Kentucky. With Key’s commitment UK now has pledges from three of the top four players in Kentucky in 2022.
Now that we’ve taken an in-depth look at our Kentucky recruiting profile- Dane Key let’s look at how he fits in in Lexington.
Where He Fits In
After this season Kentucky loses Josh Ali, who as a “Super Senior” has finally used up his eligibility. In addition, it’s entirely possible Wan’Dale Robinson takes a look at the NFL Draft. If he does leave then Liam Coen loses a great deal of production for 2022. Behind those guys, there’s a lot of younger players who are very talented but don’t have a lot of experience. As a result, the opportunity for instant playing time is certainly there.
Thanks for checking out this Kentucky recruiting profile- Dane Key here at Last Word On College Football. We’ll have a complete signing day wrap-up for later on.
