Ja’Mori Maclin to the Buffalo Bills; Dane Key to the Denver Broncos

Maclin started in all 12 games as a sophomore, and he was named to the American Athletic Conference Second Team after catching a team-high 57 passes for 1,004 yards and 11 touchdowns. He ranked 31st nationally in receiving yards, and his 11 scores were tied for ninth nationally.

Maclin then entered the transfer portal as a highly coveted prospect. He was on the Belitnikoff Award Watch List
and the Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List. However, his time at Kentucky didn’t go exactly as expected. Maclin committed to play for Liam Coen, which obviously did not happen.

With Brock Vandagriff under center, it’s a miracle that Maclin’s season went as well as it did as the third passing catching option on the offense. As a junior, Maclin played in all 12 games with three starts, tallying 13 catches for 313 yards and four scores. He also served as UK’s primary punt returner with 16 punt returns for 130 yards. He really came on towards the end of the season, so the optimism around a second season was high.

Following a solid but disappointing junior season, Maclin surprisingly opted to return, and it may not have been his best decision. As a senior, Maclin played in 10 games with five starting assignments and finished the season with just 13 catches for 189 yards. Even though UK lost both Dane Key and Barion Brown, he just couldn’t find his footing and fell down the pecking order in the receiver room.

Maclin may just not be good enough to play high-level football. Or maybe he was a product of a terrible offensive environment with poor quarterback play and a bad offensive coordinator. We’ll soon find out, and we wish nothing but the best for Ja’Mori.

Key, on the other hand, found out that the grass isn’t always greener in the transfer portal. The former four-star recruit Key played three seasons at Kentucky before transferring to Nebraska. Dane was born and raised in Lexington, attending Frederick Douglass High School. Key’s father, Donte’, was a linebacker/defensive end at Kentucky from 1992 to 1995, and his brother, Devon, was a safety at Western Kentucky.

In his three years in Lexington, Key played in 38 games with 35 starts, catching 126 passes for 1,870 yards and 14 touchdowns. Key is ranked fifth on Kentucky’s all-time receptions list and 13th in career receiving yards.

He was really impressive as a freshman, but he failed to make a big sophomore jump, putting up eerily similar stats to his freshman campaign. However, as a junior, Key became a team captain and notched 47 receptions for 715 yards and two touchdowns, setting career highs in catches and receiving yards—both of which paced the way for the Cats.

Key decided it was time for a change, and he became a Cornhusker after becoming a coveted transfer nationally. But his time with Matt Rhule didn’t go as planned, as the UDFA deal shows, since he was widely expected to get drafted following his junior season. He finished with 39 catches (his lowest since his freshman season) for 452 yards (his lowest in college) and 5 touchdowns.

Key had a really solid college career, but he never really made the jump. Based on how bad UK’s offense had become, it’s hard to blame him for leaving, but it definitely didn’t work out. Hopefully, this free agent deal will.

Go Cats!