A year after breakout vs. Florida, UK football wide receiver Dane Key showing progress
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Preview: No. 22 Florida at Kentucky
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Florida football game at noon at Kroger Field.
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Kentucky football’s win at Florida last September ended up being the high point of the 2022 season, but despite the disappointment that followed there was at least one lasting takeaway from the game in Gainesville.
The 26-16 win represented the coming out party for wide receiver Dane Key, who would go on to break UK’s freshman record for touchdown catches.
“I felt like it proved to myself that I belonged in this league and belonged to be the one to go make those plays,” Key said this week. “I feel like building from last year, I just know I can go out and make those plays.”
Key opened the scoring against the Gators with a leaping 55-yard touchdown catch through tight coverage that was perhaps the most impressive throw-and-catch from the Wildcats’ offense all season. He finished the win with three catches for 83 yards and one touchdown.
A year later, Key remains one of the most exciting young playmakers on Kentucky’s roster, but, as with most players, his progression has not been linear.
Key caught touchdowns in each of his first three games as a freshman then totaled no more than two catches in each of the next five games.
He started his sophomore season on a high note with five catches for 96 yards and one touchdown against Ball State. Key added four more catches against EKU, but was held without a catch for the first time in 16 college games in week three against Akron. Multiple drops and apparent miscommunications between Key and quarterback Devin Leary in that performance led to no shortage of criticism on social media.
In Saturday’s win at Vanderbilt, Key bounced back with four catches for 58 yards and his second touchdown of the season.
“It started in practice last week with the amount of time he and Devin spent (together),” offensive coordinator Liam Coen said.
Even the progress shown in the Vanderbilt win came with a caveat though. After his touchdown, Key was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for tapping the defender on the helmet after coming down with his acrobatic catch.
“What he did was selfish, and he knows it,” UK coach Mark Stoops said, applauding the way Key responded to his mistake. “He knows I did not tolerate that. I addressed it last week, I’ll address it again. We’re not going to be a selfish football team in any way, shape or form, and he knows that. He handled it quickly. He knows that was unacceptable and he took responsibility for it and he apologized to his team immediately after the game for it.”
Key is far from alone in battling inconsistency this season.
Most of Kentucky’s offensive players have paired highlight reel worthy plays with frustrating lapses in at least one game. The early season performances have offered a stark reminder that for as talented as Key and fellow wide receiver Barion Brown are, they are still just playing their second season of college football and have much room for improvement.
But some of the inconsistency in receiving statistics can be explained by an offense that will spread the ball around to different receivers when operating at peak efficiency.
“Human nature, competitive people, they want the football,” Stoops said earlier this season. “Each running back probably wants the ball every time, every wide-out wants the targets, every tight end wants the targets. … But if you play within the scheme people are going to have their big games. It might not be every game.”
Key downplayed any effect criticism after the Akron game might have had on him, noting he keeps the circle of people whose opinions he values tight, but it would be understandable for any young player to be affected by outside noise.
How Key and his teammates walk that tightrope will say much about the offense’s success moving forward, but as he prepares for a rematch with the opponent that helped put him on the map a year ago Key is taking a pragmatic approach.
“If they try to eye in on one person then the next person will go out there and make a play,” Key said. “We couldn’t care less about who’s scoring the touchdowns and who’s getting the yards. If we’re 4-0 at the end of the day, we’re a winning football team.”
Saturday
No. 22 Florida at Kentucky
When: Noon
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Florida 3-1 (1-0 SEC), Kentucky 4-0 (1-0)
Series: Florida leads 53-20
Last meeting: Kentucky won 26-16 on Sept. 10, 2022, in Gainesville, Fla.
This story was originally published September 27, 2023 at 12:45 PM.
