Maurice Crum admits his favorite story about Devon Key could be fabricated. He’s inclined to believe it anyway.
When pressed for a memorable moment about Crum, the Western Kentucky defensive coordinator doesn’t hesitate to answer. It’s not a heroic tackle nor is it some game-changing play. In fact, it wasn’t really about what happened on the field at all. Instead, it was the moment he realized just how intelligent the team’s star safety really was.
“I don’t know how true it is or not, but about two years ago or so, Devon made a check or gets us in the right call from something he remembered two years ago. I was like, ‘Man, this guy’s really smart.’ The guys behind me on the sideline agreed and said, ‘And he’s making a lot of money!’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ They said, ‘Before practice he had his playbook in one hand and his phone in the other exchanging stocks.’”
If there’s one word that Crum uses to describe Key again and again during our recent interview, it was intelligent. It’s his ability to process so much information, to handle assignments with ease, to take to as much coaching as a staff wants to give him that will serve him so well at the next level. Key’s next staff will be Andy Reid’s defensive staff after Key signed with the K.C. Chiefs as a rookie free agent shortly after the draft.
An interview with Western Kentucky DC Maurice Crum about new Chiefs safety Devon Key.
“What he does best is that you can disguise and move Devon around and he won’t get flustered,” said Crum in an interview with Arrowhead Addict. “A lot of guys, when you get them out of their comfort zone, you gotta give them a few extra reps to make sure they’re comfortable to do whatever. With Devon, if on the second series of the game I said, ‘I need you to show in the post and run to the flat,’ he’d just say, ‘Okay.’
“With some guys, they’re like, ‘You want me to do where? That’s so far from where my…’ you gotta calm ‘em down and talk them off the bridge,” he continues with a laugh. “With Devon it’s like, ‘No problem.’ Because he’s so smart, you can pretty much ask him to do anything. He’ll be able to retain the information and play at a high level.”
Key’s intelligence certainly did him good in four seasons with the Hilltoppers. He was quick to show what he could do at Western Kentucky and made the Conference USA All Freshman team back in 2018. He was named Honorable Mention All-CUSA for the next two seasons and then made second-team All-CUSA in 2020 after a season in which he led the Hilltoppers in tackles with 92. He started 49 of 50 possible games in college, meaning that he also comes with plenty of experience and production for WKU in that span. In short, he’s a pro-ready as he can possibly be.
“When Key first arrived here in 2017, he was a redshirt freshman. He was a relatively unknown player, but he stepped up big,” said Crum. “His personality and his traits of who he is, that’s what stood out instantly. He was a hard-working individual who was really, really smart. You can tell him something one time and he’ll remember it forever. He remembers things from those first initial conversations here and integral parts of the defense. Then four years down the line, that play or something similar comes up, and he recognizes it.”
Despite going unselected in the 2020 NFL Draft, Coach Crum believes Key has everything it takes to not only make an NFL roster but succeed based in part on his intelligence.
“At the pro level, everybody is big and everybody is fast. There’s a good amount of that in college as well, but you’re looking at the best of the best when you’re at that level,” he says. “The thing that really separates players are A.) the guys who take care of their bodies and B.) the guys who retain the most information. I think that’s what makes players at that level special because those guys know what to do before it happens and that allows your natural athleticism to take over.
“I think that’s what people can be really excited about for Devon. He’s going to be a guy who you see when you suddenly look up and wonder, ‘Where’d this guy come from?’ We won’t be surprised because he’s a smart guy and takes care of his body the right way. I think his coaches will love everything about this young man. He’ll be an asset, a guy who just makes play after play after play.”
Given his production over four seasons, Crum said Key already had a lot of interested teams, but it was his well-rounded pro day that brought even more out of the woodwork. Coach Crum said several teams came calling with interest after Key posted some nice figures in the vertical leap (38 inches), the short shuttle (4.15 seconds), bench press (20 reps), and the 40-yard dash (4.5 seconds).
Given his skill set, his character (“he’s who you want to date your daughter”), his durability, and—of course—his intelligence, Crum sounds confident in Key’s ability to make the leap to the next level. When asked about the learning curve ahead for the rookie safety, Crum said it won’t be too great of a hurdle at all.
“He played a lot of defense for us at Western, but we are very multiple, so as far as the learning curve goes, with the amount of information he’s able to retain, I think that’s going to lessen his curve,” he said. “That’s not to say he won’t have a learning curve, because that’s impossible, but he’s going to have some kind of a learning curve. But because the habits and traits that he’s put in place on himself, that’s going to allow him to be successful in whatever role they ask him to fill.”