Bye week gives Kentucky opportunity to look more at freshman QB Cutter Boley

Kentucky’s quarterback situation has been anything but consistent this season. Brock Vandagriff showed promise early on before struggling to find his stride. Backup Gavin Wimsatt is capable of running the ball but doesn’t bring enough juice in the passing game to stack victories (or even possessions). Neither has looked the part of starting SEC quarterbacks now three-fourths of the way into the season.

And to make matters worse, Vandagriff left Saturday’s 28-18 loss to No. 7 Tennessee in the middle of the third quarter due to injury. Projected top-15 draft James Pearce Jr. sprinted untouched up the middle and laid out Vandagriff. Wimsatt came in as the replacement and delivered a gorgeous 32-yard touchdown to Ja’Mori Maclin early in the fourth quarter, but he failed to produce before and after that.

Kentucky’s quarterback controversy has been brewing since last weekend’s loss to Auburn when Vandagriff was benched in the second half for Wimsatt. Vandagriff was given a vote of confidence by the staff though heading into the Tennessee game, starting against the Volunteers. Offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan clarified after Saturday’s loss that this wasn’t a situation where Wimsatt replaced Vandagriff because of on-field play — Vanadgriff was just too hurt to return.

“If it’s not one thing, it’s another thing,” Hamdan said.

Early into his postgame press conference with reporters, Hamdan was asked by Jon Hale of the Herald-Leader about true freshman quarterback Cutter Boley, who has played very sparingly this season behind Vandagriff and Wimsatt. According to Hamdan, the former four-star high school prospect could be an option for more snaps going into Kentucky’s next game against Murray State on Nov. 16, which follows the Wildcats’ second bye week of the season.

“I think. I think so, yeah,” Hamdan said when asked if Boley would get a longer look during the upcoming bye. “We’ll see where we’re at with everything. Obviously, all of these things will be discussed.”

Boley has only played in one game this season, which came near the end of a blowout road loss to Florida a few weeks ago. Some have questioned whether putting a true freshman into that position was fair or not. Boley went 0-6 through the air with a pick-6. It was an incredibly tough situation for his very first in-game action. There is plenty of talent in his arm though.

The upcoming bye week will give Hamdan and the offensive staff a chance to figure out the direction at quarterback for these final three regular season games. An extra week of rest will help with Vandagriff’s recovery. But if he’s not ready to go, will it be time to skip over Wimsatt, hand over the reins to Boley, and get a head start on next season? There will be arguments against it. It’ll certainly be a topic of conversation over the next two weeks.

“Just gotta figure out some consistency at that position and really as the offense as a whole,” Hamdan said.

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