QB Bio Blast: Cutter Boley

The Kentucky football season has reached Week 3 and it is coming with a quarterback change. KSR reported on Wednesday that redshirt freshman Cutter Boley will be making his first start of the season Saturday night against Eastern Michigan as Zach Calzada recovers from a shoulder injury. The future could be arriving again.

In a similar situation as last year, Boley received extended playing time in November after starting quarterback Brock Vandagriff suffered a concussion. That led to the former four-star recruit playing a ton against Murray State, entering the Texas game in the second half, and starting the season finale against Louisville. Now the quarterback will get a second chance to be the program’s QB1 this weekend.

Ahead of Boley’s first expected start of 2025, now feels like a good time to look back at why the Lexington (Ky.) Christian Academy was such a big recruiting win for the program and what Boley can bring to the field as a prospect.

Reclassified from 2025 to 2024

Cutter Boley was originally a member of the 2024 recruiting class, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, some changes needed to be made. The young quarterback prospect reclassified to 2025 to draw more attention and give him a bigger recruiting window. At the time, Boley was smaller and skinner than his current frame of 6-foot-5 frame.

“He was just about to enter high school when COVID hit and that’s part of it,” Cutter’s father, Scott Boley, told KSR about the decision to reclass to 2025. “That first year of COVID, nobody knew how this was going to go. They weren’t going to school, and everything was virtual. All the way around — socially, academically, and athletically — you weren’t getting what you normally would get in that year. It felt like a wasted year. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just what was going on in the world.”

The Boleys elected to hold Cutter back one year, but soon after, the quarterback would become a national prospect as the right-handed passer hit a growth spurt and began to receive some big-time attention in the recruiting space.

“We thought it’s the perfect time, coming out of eighth grade, let’s just stay back, give him time to grow and see what happens,” Scott Boley said. “Looking back now, it went so fast for him that it turns out he wouldn’t have had to stay back, but you don’t know that at the time. He was three or four inches shorter. He’s skinny now, but he was super skinny then. You’re looking ahead and saying, hey, this is going to take three or four years for anybody to notice him. It turns out, it took him six months before he started getting noticed, which is good. Looking back, we wouldn’t have done it, but we were trying to make the best decision at the time with the information we had.”

Following his commitment to Kentucky in April 2023, Cutter Boley announced that he would be reclassifying to 2024 and enrolled in school early to participate in spring practice.

Rapid Reaction: Cutter Boley is a Cat

Perhaps the best way to take us back to this recruitment is to watch the live reaction following the commitment. At the time, high school quarterback recruiting was a major issue for the Kentucky football program. Landing a prospect the caliber of Cutter Boley was significant because the win on the trail ended a long cold streak for the program.

The expectations were high for the in-state prospect from the jump as Boley picked UK over Florida State, Tennessee, Penn State, and Michigan.

Boley’s recruiting rankings did dip after his senior season, but this was a player many considered one of the best high school football prospects in the country entering the 2023 season.

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Scouting Report

Following the early signing period in December, I put together scouting reports for all of Kentucky’s commitments after following each recruitment and completing film evaluations. This was my write-up on Cutter Boley.

Blue-chip quarterback tallied 8,331 passing yards and 99 total touchdowns during his Kentucky high school career at LaRue County and Lexington Christian. There is room for growth in decision-making (24 total interceptions as a junior and senior), but the raw tools are undeniable. Shows the ability to play on time within the structure of an offense, flashes high-level arm talent, makes anticipatory throws as a dropback passer, and flashes good pocket movement skills. Massive upside, but development is needed.

Has SEC franchise QB potential. Justin Herbert playing style.

Film Room: Cutter Boley

Cutter Boley gives Kentucky a potential long-term answer at QB

Cutter Boley was Kentucky’s first high four-star quarterback commit since Drew Barker. A case can be made that the Lexington Christian Academy star is the state’s best high school quarterback prospect since Brian Brohm.

Boley gives the Wildcats a legitimate future plan at quarterback after needing to constantly refill the room in the transfer portal market over recent offseasons.

The blue-chip prospect needed some physical maturing out of high school to grow into his frame. Decision-making on the field needed improvement, but the raw tools are undeniable. The quarterback prospect has a big arm, shows the ability to make anticipatory throws, and owns good movement skills within the pocket.

Boley was a high school recruit with potential first-round draft pick upside. Kentucky landed a lottery ticket with good odds at the sport’s most important position in the 2024 high school cycle. Boley is a potential franchise player to build around in the most valuable position in football.

After another offseason with the program, Boley added 20 pounds to his frame and appeared to be much more comfortable in open practice settings. Now we will get to see how much growth was completed after a promising fall camp performance. The plan for this program was to alway ask Boley to be QB1. The ask is coming earlier than expected in 2025.