UK football offense faces plenty of questions, but it might have found its go-to receiver
READ MORE
Preview: Kentucky at South Carolina
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-South Carolina football game at Columbia, S.C.
Expand All
Finding positives from Kentucky’s blowout loss at No. 1 Georgia earlier this season was no easy task, but there was at least one sign of hope from the otherwise embarrassing showing for the Wildcats.
Sophomore wide receiver Dane Key, who had to that point in the season struggled with dropped passes and general inconsistency, acquitted himself with three catches for 65 yards. UK coach Mark Stoops pointed to Key’s performance when asked about any positives from the loss two days later, but that showing would have meant little if it had been the end of the story.
Luckily for Kentucky, it was only the beginning of a turnaround that has seen Key emerge as the go-to target for quarterback Devin Leary.
“I just think maybe the kid was putting a little bit too much pressure on himself and knowing how to play,” UK wide receivers coach Scott Woodward said this week. “... He is wired correctly. He just wants to get better. He wasn’t seeing it. He knew he was better, but he wasn’t seeing the results.
“So, we kind of just had a talk with him — Liam (Coen) and I — about the process over results. We had a pretty good talk. Came back the next day and you kind of saw it click. He came out not a different kid, but a more focused kid and ready to go. Ever since that day, he’s been (trending upward) every day. You see it on the field, off the field, in the meetings, at practice, everywhere. So, it’s paying off for him.”
Key followed the Georgia performance with just one catch for 21 yards against Missouri, but the 21 yards were still second most on the team in a game where Kentucky threw for just 120 yards. A week later against Tennessee, Key truly broke out with a career-best seven catches for 113 yards and one touchdown.
He totaled four catches for 36 yards and his fourth touchdown of the season in the win at Mississippi State. Like the loss at Georgia, there were few positives in Kentucky’s 49-21 loss to Alabama last week, but Key impressed with a couple of difficult catches again, finishing the game with four catches for 46 yards.
“I’ve just been really impressed with his consistency,” Leary said of Key. “Even when the ball wasn’t going his way or me and him were off target, he still just stuck his head down and went to work. Every single day in practice he tried to emerge and be a leader of that receiver room, but you could just see the way he approached every day in practice.”
In September, Key was held without a catch for the first time in his UK career in the win over Akron. When he followed that performance with four catches for 58 yards and one touchdown at Vanderbilt a week later, Key told reporters outside criticism had had little effect on him and what appeared to be a breakout performance at Vanderbilt was simply the result of him staying the course.
Unfortunately, that success turned out to be short-lived as Key was held without a catch against Florida a week later.
It was after that performance Woodward and Coen had their meeting with Key.
“I definitely feel like it changed my mindset,” Key said. “Not only mine, but everybody in the receiver room because I feel like everybody just finally started playing for the guy next to us. Just letting the game come to us.”
Key credits that group mentality with spurring the improvement in the Wildcats’ passing attack that resulted in 372 yards in the loss to Tennessee. That progress was still evident for most of the win at Mississippi State before Leary was sidelined by an injury in the fourth quarter, but the offense looked stagnant again against Alabama.
The fact that Key still continued his second-half surge adds hope for not only the final three games of this season but the future of an offense that will face significant turnover this offseason.
Kentucky will probably feature a new starting quarterback and running back next season with multiple offensive line positions up for grabs depending on how many current seniors elect to use their extra year of eligibility to return to school. Filling those holes will be easier if Kentucky knows it has a true No. 1 receiving option to build around.
Key still has work to do to cement his status as one of the SEC’s better receivers, but the work he has put in since the disappointing first half suggests the former Frederick Douglass High School star is up for the task of making another jump.
“I remember early in the season he was a little bit frustrated with himself,” Leary said. “Instead of complaining, the first thing he did was hop on the jugs after practice. I think that’s just a trial of him putting in the work, understanding of what he wants to get out of this game.
“Eventually over time it will all pay off.”
Next game
Kentucky at South Carolina
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 6-4 (3-4 SEC), South Carolina 4-6 (2-5)
Series: South Carolina leads 19-14-1
Last meeting: South Carolina won 24-14 on Oct. 8, 2022, in Lexington
This story was originally published November 15, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
