Stoops will reevaluate Kentucky's quarterback situation regardless of Zach Calzada's status

Zach Calzada left Kentucky’s 30-23 loss to Ole Miss with six minutes to go with a shoulder injury, leaving Cutter Boley to take over at quarterback. Will Boley remain Kentucky’s quarterback moving forward? The jury’s still out, but Mark Stoops had some interesting remarks after the game.

Calzada finished the game 15-30 for 149 yards, finally finding his footing in the third quarter, highlighted by a 44-yard completion to Ja’Mori Maclin, one of four explosive passing plays by the Cats. After injuring his shoulder (the same one he had surgically repaired), Calzada was ruled questionable to return per the ABC broadcast. Stoops said he did not know how bad Calzada’s injury was after the game, but said he would reconsider the quarterback situation regardless of Calzada’s status.

“He was hurt,” Stoops said. “I don’t know the extent. I mean, we were in the heat of the moment there, and, you know, not sure.”

When Jon Hale asked Stoops directly if he would reevaluate the starting quarterback job even if Calzada is fine, Stoops said, “Certainly.”

“Let’s just look at it the way it is. I mean, he’s banged up. I don’t know to what extent I would think he would more than likely miss Monday or Tuesday, I would think. But I want to see Cutter. Yeah. I want to see him. Yeah.”

In the final six minutes, Boley was 1-3 for 38 yards. On his first drive, Kentucky went for it on 4th and 6, and he was sacked for a 5-yard loss. On the second, Boley got Kentucky into field-goal range, with Jacob Kauwe pulling the Cats within seven with eight seconds left. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late.

“Cutter was put in a tough situation there at the end to come in, but we’re always evaluating,” said offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. “I’ll take a look at it.”

Stoops’ frustration with the offense before Calzada’s injury suggested that Boley has a good chance at taking over the job.

“No, because the plays were there, and again, not easy, and not wide open, or things of that nature. But when you drop back and pass, and you’ve gotta throw the ball. And some of it was there.

“And listen, it’s not easy. Those are big guys coming at him, and you don’t know what the vision’s like and what his windows are like, but as we’re looking, I was interested in that, and Bush was, we were looking at that, and I was looking at that after and in-between series. And, there were some opportunities there that we got to be more efficient.”

Stoops doubled down on giving Boley a shot during his postgame conversation with Tom Leach.

“I think Cutter deserves the opportunity.”

Kentucky hosts Eastern Michigan next Saturday. Which quarterback will be under center?

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