Dane Key kept us all guessing until the very end

By the time the dust settled, it wasn’t a surprise when the Lexington native elected to stay home, but it was the buildup to the final decision that had the Big Blue Nation slightly on edge.

Dane Key and his family were as tight-lipped as it gets with college recruiting. There were no leaks or tips or secret scoops. Not even KSR’s Ryan Lemond knew until the moment Key announced he was committing to Kentucky.

With a packed crowd at the Frederick Douglass High School on Thursday evening, everyone expected Key to land with UK, but only those closest to him knew it would actually happen. In reality, only a handful of people knew ahead of time.

There was definitely a distinct whiff of what if he goes somewhere else? and he is picking Kentucky, right? floating around the high school cafeteria. Key was noticeably and understandably nervous while staring out across a sea of his peers.

Michigan, Oregon, South Carolina, and Western Kentucky were the other four hats that joined Kentucky on the table. In the end, though, Key’s decision was never in doubt. He made up his mind two weeks ago that he was going to become a Wildcat. Once he told Mark Stoops of his decision last week, the reality of the situation began to sink in.

“He gave me a big hug. He gave me a big hug,” Key repeated with a smile when remembering how Stoops reacted to the news.

Here is the moment Dane Key (@DaneKey12) announced his commitment to Kentucky.

Sure looks like a kid who is happy about his decision. pic.twitter.com/izfIGKLMcy

— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) October 29, 2021

There was a close second choice for Key, although he declined to get into specifics. He’s a Wildcat now, and that’s where his focus is and will be moving forward.

“All the schools up here made it super challenging for me,” Key said. “It was a really tough decision at the end of the day… There was a close second but we’re not worried about that right now–we’re locked in.”

Key said that only his family members and a few others knew of his decision. His head coach at Frederick Douglass, Nathan McPeek, didn’t even know until the day before. Not because Key didn’t tell him though. Everyone just wanted to keep it a secret.

“I knew yesterday,” McPeek told KSR following Key’s announcement. “I didn’t say anything to nobody. Even my wife didn’t want to know. It’s awesome for him, I’m happy for his decision.”

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A conversation that Key had with his childhood best friend and fellow Frederick Douglass teammate, Ty Bryant, helped smooth over the edges.

The two of them go all the way back to kindergarten when they used to play tag in the school library. They have an incredibly tight bond that extends well beyond playing baseball and football together for the last decade-plus. When Bryant talks, Key listens, and vice versa.

Bryant (a three-star class of 2023 Kentucky commit) and Key talked about the ‘Cats after a game on the way home a few weeks ago.

“I wouldn’t say he was 100 percent locked in,” Bryant said of what he learned from that conversation. “But I would definitely say I felt him after that talk. Me to him, heart-to-heart type stuff. After that, I had a confident feeling.

“He told me–it was a few days back, he gave me the inside scoop. But of course, me being me, that being my boy, I’m not gonna tell nobody. That’d be disrespectful for me to do that.”

The people around Key support him endlessly–that much is clear. He decided to go the quiet route in his recruitment and those involved honored that request. There’s something to be said about the trust he has with those closest to him.

Now, Dane Key will instill that same trust in Vince Marrow and Mark Stoops.