Cutter Boley has Grown, Literally, this Offseason

There’s a fun cliche that gets tossed around during conference media days across the country. “You always see the biggest growth from year one to year two.” In this setting, it is typically applied to second-year head coaches. You can also use that for players who redshirted and quarterbacks. Cutter Boley checks both of those boxes.

The former four-star talent from the state of Kentucky was not expected to play as a true freshman. He was scheduled to redshirt and learn behind Brock Vandagriff and Gavin Wimsatt, until injuries forced him into action.

Things got off to a rocky start, about as rocky as they possibly could. His first pass at Florida was a pick-six. He went 0-6, but was unshaken. Boley completed 10-14 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns in a blowout win over Murray State. The following week, he took over in the second half at Texas. Facing one of the best secondaries in the nation, he looked like the future of the program, completing 10-18 passes for 160 yards while driving the Wildcats deep into Texas territory. That is a big reason why Mark Stoops believes Boley is the future for the Wildcats.

“We have a local young quarterback on campus that we certainly feel is the future,” the Kentucky head coach said at SEC Media Days. “When that time is, I’m not sure. Whether it’s next week, two weeks, three weeks, next season, next year, I’m not sure.”

What Boley Learned in Year One

To grow into the player Kentucky needs him to be, he had to check some boxes during his redshirt season. Learning the offense was step one.

“The playbook was a huge thing. You have to get on it fast,” he told Mario Maitland on the What’s Next Podcast. “You can’t show up that day and be 90% sure. You gotta be 100% sure three days before on what you’re doing to show up and be comfortable.”

The next step: eye discipline. SEC defenses are too good for a quarterback to stare down a target.

“There’s so many different moving targets. You’re reading keys, so you’ve gotta be really disciplined with your eyes and know what you’re doing pre-snap, what your goal is for the play, because there are so many different looks. You gotta know what you’re looking at because there’s a lot of people moving fast. If you’re not disciplined with your eyes, you’re not gonna see much at all,” said Boley.

The third box he needed to check sounds simple for folks in their 30s, but that’s not always the case for a teenager: gain weight. Boley arrived as a wiry 6-foot-5, 203-pound quarterback. He needed to gain good weight to withstand the rigors of SEC play. Boley shared that he’s gained about 20 pounds, now up to 222.

“The biggest thing is the diet. You can grind all you want in the weight room. If you don’t have the diet, it doesn’t matter,” said Boley.

That meant adding a big breakfast to his daily routine.

“I’m not a big morning guy,” Boley said. “I’m not a big eater in the morning, so I was missing that window of time when I could eat. If you wait till later, there’s still gonna be more stuff in your stomach; you’re just not going to be able to eat as much throughout the day.”

That’s one thing Boley and Mario share in common. They’re not big breakfast guys. Fortunately, the Kentucky QB made the necessary changes to be ready for the 2025 Kentucky football season.

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