Now healthy, can former Frederick Douglass star Dekel Crowdus break out for UK football?

Before Dane Key, before Barion Brown, there was Dekel Crowdus.

A year ago, it was Crowdus who was playing the role of lightning fast freshman wide receiver turning heads early in preseason practice. But by the time the 2021 season started, Crowdus had been relegated to the sideline by a knee injury.

The initial prognosis for the injury was positive, with Kentucky Coach Mark Stoops expressing optimism Crowdus might be able to return in a matter of weeks. Instead, he missed the entire season.

The injury did not require surgery, but the inability to help his teammates weighed on Crowdus.

“I’d say the last year was pretty depressing just because I got injured and I had to go through the phase of getting treatment and all that stuff,” Crowdus told the Herald-Leader on the first day of Kentucky’s preseason camp last week. “But, now I’m back and healthy.”

Crowdus returns to a wide receiver room that has suddenly become more crowded.

When the Lexington native signed with Kentucky as a four-star recruit in the class of 2021, he was supposed to be the player who brought game-changing speed to the room. Since then, Kentucky added former high school track stars Brown, Jordan Anthony and Brandon White. Dane Key, Crowdus’ former teammate at Frederick Douglass High School, might not be as fast as that group but already locked down a starting job with a stellar spring after enrolling early.

The good news for Crowdus is that even with the improved depth, Kentucky is in desperate need of multiple receivers to emerge as big-play threats.

Wan’Dale Robinson, who broke the program’s single-season records for catches and receiving yards in a season in his one year as a Wildcat, is gone. So are Josh Ali and Isaiah Epps, Kentucky’s second and third receivers a year ago.

“Quite honestly, it’s exciting,” offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello said. “You’ve got guys with different types of traits: possession guys, speed guys, bigger guys, fast guys. You’ve got slots, you’ve got separators. In this offense, we move people around, so you don’t need to be the guy that can beat press (coverage) every down.

“We’re going to move and motion and do different things to help guys do what they do best. I think there’s a place for all those guys to contribute. Of course, the guys who are your bell cows will emerge to the top and we’ll feed them how we can.”

Wide receivers coach Scott Woodward reported positive signs from Crowdus early in camp.

The knee injury does not seem to have robbed him of his trademark speed. Crowdus is focused on playing the “X” receiver position, the outside spot vacated by Ali.

There might even have been lessons learned during the extended layoff that make Crowdus a better player now that he is healthy.

“I’ve been taking treatment a lot more seriously,” Crowdus said.

Instead of seeing the addition of new speed threats to the wide receiver room as a threat to his snaps, Crowdus has embraced the competition. He also acknowledges having multiple deep threats will make it harder for defenses to capitalize when one player grows tired after running multiple deep routes in a row.

Key, Virginia Tech transfer Tayvion Robinson and junior DeMarcus Harris are poised to open the season as starters at wide receiver. Brown, Rahsaan Lewis and Chris Lewis were practicing with the second-team offense for much of Saturday’s open Fan Day practice.

But Crowdus will have plenty of opportunity to prove last August’s hype was justified now that he’s healthy too.

“He’s finally 100%,” Woodward said. “He’s finally getting the hang of it. … He’s rolling out there, and he looks good.

“It was a struggle for him mentally (when injured), but I think he did the best he could. We stayed on him 100% and tried to keep him engaged and stay on top of all the stuff outside of football. Then when it was time for him to be healthy and 100%, he was locked in. He’s been great ever since the spring.”

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