Behind QB Cutter Boley's ASU commitment
The recruiting relationships that head coach Kenny Dillingham has built throughout his career have paid dividends with one more landing, Kentucky signal caller Cutter Boley. In this exclusive interview, the quarterback’s father, Scott Boley, shared his experience with the recruiting process with the Sun Devils and the aspects that led his son to join the ranks in Tempe.
“Coach Dillingham offered Cutter in high school when he was still the OC at Oregon at the time,” Boley recalled. “And two, three months later is when he got the Arizona State job. There was no connection between those times once Cutter committed to UK. But, sometimes there are roundabout connections, and once Cutter entered the portal, Coach Dillingham and the GM (Josh Omura), who both know Cutter’s 7-on-7 coach and knew who to contact, how to get in touch with us, and get the ball rolling from there, and it went very quickly, actually.”
Even though Dillingham and the new Arizona State quarterback hadn’t talked in years prior to last week, the two picked up right where that left off back then.
“Cutter’s our third division one kid, and he’s the baby of the family,” Boley noted. “So, we’ve been fortunate to deal with a lot of coaches, and he (Dillingham) is real. Cutter and his older brother Jackson got there a little bit before my wife, and I did, and even after the first 20 minutes with Dillingham, when we walked away, my wife said, ‘He’s exactly like I thought he would be.’ In college sports, sometimes people get to see a persona in the media or on TV, and then you meet them, and sometimes it’s better, sometimes it’s worse. They’re not always what you thought they were, and maybe there’s a little phoniness on TV, and I’m not talking about anybody in particular when I say that. It’s just the way it is,
“But Dillingham is exactly the same person, and you can tell he loves what he does, and he’s not trying to be fake or pretend or put on a show for you, and we all appreciate that, especially after dealing with so many coaches over the years. It was just the straight-up honesty. We had no connection prior to with Coach Arroyo (offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo), but I really liked him over the weekend as well. I really liked the whole coaching staff, but obviously, for us, Coach Dillingham and Coach Arroyo are the two big ones. I just had a really good feeling through this weekend, and I don’t think we were there very long before without Cutter even saying anything, my wife and I realized we’re probably not taking another visit.”
And once the quarterback made the announcement, it was done, the leader that is, made that statement in front of other players who were visiting, perhaps to amplify the effect of his announcement.
“We were at dinner at Mastro’s (Steakhouse), and we had the whole table full of recruits and coaches there in the private room,” Boley recalled, “and Cutter was next to Dillingham, and he stood up and gave a little mini speech there. He was talking to the other recruits, bragging on the coaches, and thought this was the place to win a championship, and said, ‘I’m committing right now.’ And it went from there, and that night, we had two more commitments at the restaurant, actually.”
Needless to say, the conversations that took place between Dillingham and Arroyo with Cutter Boley in the hours preceding that dinner were highly productive from a pure football sense, and by default enhanced the relationship between all parties, an element that was vital in this pledge.
“I feel like the quarterback position, probably more than any other position in any sport on this planet, has to have a good connection between the quarterback and the offensive coordinator and the head coach,” Boley remarked. “They have to believe in you. I feel this way more now than ever. If the people who are calling plays for you are wishy-washy, it’s probably not going to work long-term. We all felt the true belief in how they feel about Cutter. They sat down with us and talked about how much they’d watched his film. They discussed the specific things they believe he can accomplish and what they can do with him.
“I truly felt that belief in Cutter matters a lot, honestly, to us, because, especially after starting 10 games in the SEC and as a freshman quarterback, you don’t want to go into some situation where that belief is in doubt. You want to be on the field because when you go backwards and sit for a year or two, you do check out. After having played this year and having some success, you want to keep moving forward, pushing forward, and getting better.
“And I will say that Cutter even before we went through this whole process, he told my wife and me, ‘I want somebody to push me. I want to get better. I know these are my strengths, these are my weaknesses, and I want to do whatever I have to do to reach the immediate goals, which are to get better and win.’ But also, his goal is to get to that next level eventually as well. So, he looked into who could help him do that. He’s commented several times that he’s ready to go to a bowl game and, beyond that, to the playoffs. But he wants someone to push him; he told them (ASU) that, too. It just felt like they’re both on the same page.”
Boley knows that his son, probably because he’s 6-foot-5, isn’t considered an athletic player. Yet, this past year, especially in the Texas game, where, excluding sacks, he rushed for 69 yards in a 16-13 overtime loss, has changed that perception. This is why one aspect of their visit was meeting ASU’s strength coach, Joe Connolly, who detailed how this facet of his skill set can be improved.
“We always knew that he had that athleticism even though people didn’t realize it,” Boley stated. “So, the (ASU) coaches know that. They want to push the ball downfield, and I know they like his ability to push it way downfield. And they know he can throw on the run. We always jokingly say that he played at a tiny high school in his sophomore year, where I think he only had one offensive lineman who weighed more than he did. And that’s nobody’s fault.
“When we first started taking visits, and things started blowing up for him, and he started getting all the big offers, one of the first things every coach said when we sat down with them was how well he throws the ball on the run, and they asked him, ‘Is that something you work on?’ And we realized that it was out of necessity because he was running for his life on every play.
When he moved to a bigger and better football program in Lexington, he was able to stay in the pocket more. I’m glad that he has learned all of those things, because it’s made him a more well-rounded quarterback and a threat to do different things when the play breaks down or be better on rollouts. He throws well, going to his left with his opposite hand. And I think that was all learned out of necessity.”
For a player like Boley, the decision to join Arizona State carries even a more significant meaning. He was born and raised in Kentucky, and this year will be the first time he has played at the high school or college level outside his home state. Naturally, this was an attribute taken into consideration when he made his commitment, but the strong sense of comfort he felt in Tempe also greatly influenced his decision.
“I had a feeling from the first time we talked on the phone that he was going to be comfortable (playing away from home). I wasn’t surprised at all. At the same time, as a parent, if someone says he’s going to take care of your kid, you do want to look them in the eye. You want to read them and see how somebody truly is. It’s hard to always get that on the phone.
“But that didn’t take long for us to feel (comfortable). Even with the defensive coaches, people that he won’t necessarily work directly with all that much. I just got a good family feel. We’ve been blessed to be on a lot of different official visits, meeting a lot of coaches, telling you what you want to hear over the years. But with these (ASU) coaches, it just felt natural and not like a forced presentation to wow with something, which is what we were looking for.
“Cutter is very much a relationship-driven person. I actually told the coaches this weekend, you can’t make a coach like how you play, but hopefully they do. But the one thing I can say about anybody who is going to play with Cutter is that he’s always going to be a locker room guy. And that’s the way it is with him, it’s natural. I was a college basketball player, and I could fit in, but like if I went somewhere new, I’d be one of those guys on the outside, slowly work my way in. When we moved Cutter to a bigger high school, I had people all the time here in our small hometown asking, ‘How’s Cutter?’ And I would tell them that we could move Cutter to Alaska, and in 24 hours, he’d be perfectly fine. He’d have a little friend group, and he’d be in good shape. He’s very much a people person and enjoys the relationships. And that makes it even more important with his relationship with Coach Dillingham and Coach Arroyo.”
Boley, who remembers the days when he had to scramble for any kind of indoor facility to have his son throw a football in the winter, is elated that this won’t be an issue in the Valley of the Sun. This is just one reason why he feels that coming to ASU will greatly help in his development.
“Cutter is expecting to get a lot better because of how the coaches are going to work with him to get better individually,” Boley described, “and also getting the team around him better. You’re already seeing these huge portal additions with more to come. He’s expecting to have a great year both individually and team-wise. The coaches know he’s capable of making every throw. Obviously, playing that position is more than having a great arm. It’s making the right reads pre- and post-snap and getting them down as well as possible to make the best decisions.
“This is about going to a team and having coaches who are putting you in the best chance for success. When you’re in that situation, it doesn’t matter what a defense is going to do because you know you have a counter to that.”
