Dane Key among few bright spots on a terrible night for Kentucky football

There weren’t many positives for Kentucky on a night it lost its 11th game in the Wildcats’ last 13 SEC home games while closing out the year 0-4 in league play at Kroger Field. They were doubled up by Auburn in total yardage (500-224) with the defense giving up 328 yards on the ground — 278 and two touchdowns to Jarquez Hunter alone. One of many other embarrassing stats coming out of the loss? Only one FBS team had a worse turnover margin than the Tigers (-10) on the year and the Wildcats somehow lost that battle 2-1. Auburn couldn’t get out of its own way until it took on Kentucky.

If there is one positive takeaway from yet another night to forget at Kroger Field, however, it’s the fact that Dane Key is a true star at wide receiver for the Wildcats — and likely in the NFL sooner rather than later.

The junior playmaker racked up 87 yards on four receptions with a long of 34 yards, pulling down two of the nastiest sideline grabs you’ll find at any level.

Dane Key is HIM 😤 pic.twitter.com/cZ9hZuViLy

— KSR (@KSRonX) October 27, 2024

ANOTHER crazy grab from Dane Key 🔑 pic.twitter.com/1fqF4EZTrh

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) October 27, 2024

He just makes the hard stuff look easy, and Mark Stoops singled him out as the difference early when the Wildcats managed to take a quick 10-0 lead in the first quarter. And then everything else happened to take that shine away.

“Early on, Dane made a couple of great catches and we did get a 10-point lead but after that they kind of stymied us,” Stoops said.

Key became the first Wildcat since Wan’Dale Robinson in 2021 to pull down at least four receptions in five consecutive games, a consistent workhorse who has emerged as one of few bright spots on this Kentucky team. He’s now up to 587 receiving yards on 39 catches with two touchdowns, good for 15.1 yards per reception on the year.

How does it feel to make plays at the highest level game in and game out? Well, Key will be the first to admit it ain’t a bad feeling.

“It’s just — it’s honestly just a blessing just for the fact that when you go into a game, if you can be the guy that they’re focusing on, you want to be that guy,” the junior receiver said after the loss. “It definitely does feel good, because it’s either I can go out there and have a big week or if all the focus is on me, there’s other receivers on this team that are really, really, really talented that will also go make a play. I feel like we can hit you one way or another.”

Key opened his Kentucky career with a bang and hasn’t slowed down much since, racking up 118 catches for 1,742 yards and 14 touchdowns in three seasons. He’s on pace to clear his catch and yardage totals by a mile, already sitting at No. 7 overall on the program’s all-time receiving list — likely to jump into the top five next week against Tennessee.

How did the Lexington native get there?

“It definitely was work. It just came down to working, putting my head down and working,” he said. “I’ve just been going to work every day, listening to the coaches, trusting what they had to say for me, trusting what they had to do for me, and just putting my head down and working. That’s all I’ve really just been trying to do is keep my head down and keep working.”

It’s been a successful year in a successful career, but he’s not where he wants to be quite yet. That comes with more work while staying humble.

“I’m just trying to keep my head down,” Key said. “It’s never get too high, never get too low, no matter what the outcome is. Just staying level-headed and trying to make plays when the ball comes to me.”