Boley's Grit and Determination Shows Growth in Auburn Win

Kentucky QB Cutter Boley vs. Auburn, via John Reed-Imagn Images

The road in the SEC is dark and full of terrors. It is an unforgiving place, something that Kentucky quarterback Cutter Boley has experienced in a pair of starts away from Kroger Field.

In his first starting assignment under center in an SEC game, things quickly unraveled in the second quarter. He was sacked by South Carolina, the ball was stripped, and returned for a touchdown. On the very next snap, Boley’s pass was tipped into the hands of a South Carolina defender and returned for a touchdown, ultimately sealing the Wildcats’ fate.

For a moment during Saturday’s SEC road trip to Auburn, it felt like things might unravel again. Searching for more points before halftime with less than two minutes to go, Boley made a critical error near midfield. Elijah Melendez jumped into a passing lane, picked off the pass, and returned it to the Kentucky 35-yard line, setting up a game-tying field goal for the Tigers.

The redshirt freshman Kentucky quarterback could have crumbled, and yet, he was unfazed. On the first drive of the second half, he led the Wildcats down the field to score the game’s only touchdown.

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“He completed 11 straight after that,” Mark Stoops recalled on Monday. “That just says a lot about him, and the things we’ve been talking about with him, and the way he’s going to grow from this experience. You love it when maybe he’s not, you know, at his peak performance, but yet still has the resolve to get the victory and did enough.”

Boley was named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week after securing his first SEC win as the Kentucky starter. Even though he was not precise, he remained undeterred and did enough to grit through a win. After the game, Stoops caught Cutter in between interviews and the head coach told his quarterback how proud he was of the effort, even though the stats didn’t pop off the page.

“Cutter definitely missed a few things, but I was so pleased because that’s what it’s going to look like a lot of times on the road in the SEC against a great defense,” said Stoops. “They are a very good defense, and I thought it just showed a lot of toughness, a lot of grit, and a lot of resolve. I mean, he just hung in there. Maybe he missed a pass or two, but he didn’t flinch.”

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