University of Kentucky Hall of Famer Keenan Burton didn’t know a lot about freshman receiver Dane Key when he saw him play his first game for UK this season.
     However, it didn’t take long for Burton to realize the 6-3 Key was “special” and possibly destined for greatness at Kentucky.
     “His poise just jumps out. I was in Lexington a few weeks ago and got a chance to meet him and talk to him,” said Burton, who lives in Louisville. “He is so humble but yet so locked in.
     “He reminds me a lot of how I was. Bright-eyed, excited but knowing my time is now. Not in an arrogant way but just knowing this is my time. That’s what I see when I watch him.”
     Burton ranked fourth in school history in pass receptions (189) and second in both receiving yardage (2,376) and touchdown catches (25) when he finished his UK career in 2007. He also set a UK career record for kickoff return average — 25.6 yards per attempt. Burton put those numbers up despite a wrist injury in 2004 and foot injury in 2005.
     Key is off to a fabulous start. He had touchdown catches in his first three games, including a 55-yarder at Florida, that tied the freshman school receiving touchdown mark and he just missed making a 60-yard touchdown catch against Northern Illinois last week. He has 15 catches for 241 yards – 16.1 yards per catch – in the first four games.
     “His play is very sure. He has great hands, runs great routes,” Burton, a 2008 fourth-round draft pick by the St. Louis Cardinals, said. “He’s big but he’s composed. I really have not seen anything like him at Kentucky.”
     Burton not only played with some terrific players, but he’s watched Kentucky football for over 20 years and understands how difficult it is to have the success Key is having so quickly.
     “You could see that in Randall (Cobb), but he was not a receiver. He was a quarterback (when he came to Kentucky),” Burton said. “He just has it. I don’t know why he has it. I don’t really say a lot about anybody specifically. He just has all the tools.”
     Burton said he didn’t know what type of big-game situations Key faced in high school but says it’s easy to tell big situations don’t bother him.
     “Like with me, I always played with a lot of pressure and expectations. I was always expected to do well and that drove me. I sense the same thing with him,” Burton said. “I see him and you can tell he

     Ugonna Kingsley Onyenso didn’t come to Kentucky because of All-American center Oscar Tshiebwe, but the 17-year-old defensive standout from Nigeria is glad to have Tshiebwe on his team.
     He reclassified to the class of 2022 and said it has already been “fun” being at Kentucky.
     “I am glad he (Tshiebwe) is here. That will help me but he is not the reason I am here,” he told WLEX-TV’s Keith Farmer on BBN Tonight. “The reason I am here is because I wanted to be here and someone like coach (John) Calipari is going to help me improve my game. Oscar is just an addition to it.”
     Tshiebwe came to the United States from the Congo and the 7-foot Kingsley — who speaks 2 1/2 languages with French being one he is not totally mastered — says that gives them a natural connection.
     He did not get to make the trip to the Bahamas with Kentucky but told Farmer the team was “amazing” and he loves the “speed” the team plays with.
     “It is fun playing with them. The first time I was a little bit shaky,” he said on BBN Tonight. “I was not really playing like I was supposed to. I was pressing.”
     Onyenso grew up playing soccer but at age 12 stopped to watch a basketball team practice on his way home because others had told him with his size that he should try basketball. At age 14, he was invited to the NBA Academy Africa, an elite training center.
     “I had been playing basketball for three years when I went. It was a big adjustment at age 14,” Kingsley said. “Them telling me I had great potential pushed me.”
     He told Farmer he decided to reclassify to the 2022 recruiting class late because he played so well “against U.S. kids” after he got to this country he decided he was ready for college.
     “Why play one more year of high school? I am trying to get ready for the league, so I got to play (at Kentucky),” Onyenso said.

     If you need a reminder about what the UK football program was like when Mark Stoops took over, staff writer Joel Whetzel of the Youngstown Tribune-Chronicle had an insightful feature story on the UK coach.
     “There was such a negative perception of that not only within Lexington or within the state, but also nationally and also within the same organization,” Stoops told Whetzel. “The players did not have the confidence that they needed, and there’s only one way to get that confidence and that’s to prepare.
     “So we had to learn that Youngstown work ethic here for four years until they started grasping what it took to be successful.”
     Stoops felt the best way to overcome the “negative stigma” was hiring coaches with connections to Youngstown, Ohio, his hometown. On staff today are associate head coach Vince Marrow, linebacker coach Mike Stoops, safety coach Frank Buffano and graduate assistant Courtney Love — who all went to the same high school as the UK head coach.
     “In this profession and as a head coach here for 10 years, there’s a lot of coaches that come and go and a lot of players that come and go, and that’s fine, and I appreciate and respect every single one of them,” Stoops said. But with the Youngstown guys, I know exactly what I’m getting. I think that familiarity and the loyalty that we have with each other goes a long way.”

  Quotes of the Week

Quote of the Week 1:

     “I had always heard about him and then I also kept up with Kentucky. Once I got here, I got a chance to get to know him. He is even more of a madman on the recruiting trail than I realized. I have definitely got a few pointers from him,” UK offensive line coach Zach Yenser on UK recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow.

Quote of the Week 2:

     “I am old and am mature enough to know young guys have to learn. If they have questions, they can ask me. I don’t have to be a leader. It’s more a matter of being mature and holding other players to a high standard,” UK senior Jacob Toppin on John Calipari wanting him to be a better leader.

Quote of the Week 3:

     “One thing I love about him is he is like a quarterback out there. He is a fixer. He is that calming guy you can trust. He’s tough, competitive and experienced,” UK offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello on receiver Tayvion Robinson.

     First-year offensive line coach Zach Yenser understands his unit has not performed up to past Big Blue Wall standards or the expectations UK fans had even though the Cats lost three NFL-caliber offensive linemen off last year’s 10-3 team.
     However, Yenser is a John Schlarman disciple and is not about to panic. Yenser is a Kentucky native and played under Schlarman at Troy University.
     “John was the first guy I really saw show me how this could be done. Awesome father, great husband and great football coach,” Yenser said. “He could do all three and manage his time.
     “The whole time he was at Troy and then when he came to Kentucky, I always kept up with him and knew what he was going through grinding those early years before finally hitting his stride. Then I knew what he did even though he had cancer before he passed.”
     Yenser felt a responsibility to continue what Schlarman had done by putting together one of the best offensive lines in the country.
     “I stand in front of our (meeting) room and (a picture of) Schlarman is on the back wall,” Yenser said. “You are reminded of him on a constant basis and that makes you want to do a good job. That whole room is filled with guys John Schlarman has brought here and they all understand how important it is to his legacy for us to play well.”
     Kentucky has seven straight SEC games starting with Saturday afternoon’s game at Ole Miss and offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello won’t deny the line has had its issues. He thought coming off a good performance in the win at Florida, the line “did not meet the standard of play we expect” against Youngstown State.
     “They have to own it, we have to own it,”

     Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart has made it clear that UK prefers to keep an eight-game SEC football schedule when Texas and Oklahoma join the conference in 2025 and how a nine-game SEC schedule could impact Kentucky’s revenue.
     “Everybody will say, ‘There’s probably more money in television,’” Barnhart said on the weekly radio show Big Blue Nation. “There could be. There might not be, and on those years when we give up, if there is nine (SEC games) and we have to go on the road five times for conference play, that makes it incredibly difficult to schedule the rest of those games at home and make sure that we’ve got the balance that allows our program to have some financial success to keep the rest our programs (financially stable).”
     Barnhart noted that football and men’s basketball “feed the other 21 (sports)” at Kentucky and must continue to create revenue to fund those sports.
     “As much as we’d like to think they (other sports) can stand on their own, they

can’t do it,” Barnhart said.
     The Kentucky AD says deciding what scheduling model is best for football — or even men’s and women’s basketball.
     “Do you have a permanent opponent, do you have two permanent opponents (in football)? So what is best? You’re going to have to go through that same conversation in basketball as well, on the men’s side and the women’s side. If you have a permanent opponent on that side, who wants that team?” Barnhart said.
     “I think that fairness and equity are always in the eyes of the beholder and what I think is equitable and fair is probably not what others think is equitable and fair. Everyone’s going to have to give a little bit and find balance in the conversation.”
     Kentucky starts a stretch of seven straight SEC games this Saturday at Ole Miss.