Dane Key appreciates what Frederick Douglass coaches did for him and continue to do to help develop more high level players

Dane Key says Frederick Douglass coaches help players develop and mature. (Photo by UK Athletics)

Frederick Douglass High School in Lexington continues to produce high level Division ! talent with the latest being junior defensive lineman Jamarrion Harkless with offers from Georgia, Kentucky, LSU and others.

Last year receiver Dane Key was at Frederick Douglass. He won the Paul Hornung Award as the state’s top player. He signed with Kentucky, graduated early and made a big impression on coaches and teammates during UK’s spring practice.

He credits his Frederick Douglass background for much of his success.

“Coming from a good high school and good coaches over there, they really helped me mature for the next level for when there are guys competing at a high level that you mess around one practice, there’s the next guy right behind you ready to take your spot,” said Key.

“I think the separator over at Douglass is just the athletes who are over there. You want to compete to the highest level because if you don’t do good one practice, you’re going to hear it all day. Just the competition over there, you can’t get beat a rep. You’ll have to go out there and compete and just compete, compete, compete, rep after rep after rep.”

Key has former Douglass teammates Dekel Crowdus and Jager Burton also at UK and now obviously Kentucky would like to add Harkless to its 2023 recruiting class along with defensive back Ty Bryant, another Douglass player who has already verbally committed to UK.

Douglass also has several other rising stars, including 5-11, 170-pound junior defensive back Jeremiah Lowe — who took over for Key in center field for the Douglass baseball team this season after Key graduated early.

Lowe is now considered a three-star recruit and coach Nathan McPeek expects him to potentially add a fourth star when more recruiting analysts get a chance to see him.

“He is just a smooth player. Athletically, he is a Dekel-type kid. He’s not as fast but he is a really, really good player,” McPeek said. “He plays corner for us. He could play receiver for us but we are pretty good there. We have got some sophomore receivers who will be really good, so we will probably just keep him on defense.”