Frederick Douglass players, from left, that will face North Hardin Friday night include receiver Isaiah Allen, defensive back Amir Robert, linebacker/safety Ty Bryant, offensive lineman Jager Burton, receiver Dane Key, receiver Dekel Crowdus, Gavin Faulkner and quarterback Samuel Cornett. Burton and Crowdus are UK commits while Key and Bryant both have UK offers.
Friday’s season-opening matchup in Lexington between state powers North Hardin and host Frederick Douglass could have some dandy one-on-one battles between Douglass’ receivers and North Hardin’s secondary. Frederick Douglass coach Nathan McPeek expects his talented receivers, including UK commit Dekel Crowdus, to be “fired up” for this test.
“It’s not like coming in they do not know they are going to be scouted a lot more this year,” McPeek said. “Their roles are different. They are on the scene now and people are going to game plan to stop them.”
Certainly junior Dane Key is going to draw a lot of attention. He’s now 6-3, 185 pounds and has 16 Dvision I offers along with strong recent interest from Ohio State and Notre Dame.
“He has put on 15 or 20 pounds of muscle since last year,” McPeek said. “He would be fine to play running back. He’s a perfectionist. He wants to do everything perfect and can be hard on himself but he works so hard.”
Crowdus played his junior season in Florida before returning home to Lexington this season. McPeek calls him a “great” athlete.
“He brings so much speed to the table,” McPeek said. “Our receivers have ran and conditioned but it is different lining up, catching the ball, running and stopping. I do worry about his conditioning level and everyone’s level a little bit going into this game.”
North Hardin coach Brent Thompson says he knows Crowdus, Key and the other receivers are going to “bring it” against his team that features safety Jordan Lovett, a UK commit who led the state in interceptions last year and ranked third nationally.
Thompson does not know much about new Douglas quarterback Sam Cornett, a 6-7 junior transfer from Washington.
“They had a quarterback last year who ran more and there is some uncertainty about their quarterback might do this year,” Thompson said. “Our guys can adapt and make plays as we see what is happening. But we are going to have our hands full trying to stop that offense.”
