Kentucky plans to "build around" 4-star QB Cutter Boley for the future

If there’s one area where Kentucky has struggled in the Mark Stoops era, it would be developing high school quarterbacks into starting-caliber SEC signal callers. Stoops and his staff expect Cutter Boley to buck that trend.

“Cutter was a guy that we had targeted and recruited for years,” Stoops said during his National Signing Day ceremony on Wednesday. “We are proud to have Cutter be our high school quarterback and a guy that will come in, compete, he will develop, and we expect to be a dynamic player. He’s a guy that has a contagious personality, works extremely hard, very likable, guys are attracted to him. It helped us recruit players. Cutter was a very big get for us.”

Boley is considered a four-star prospect and the No. 307 overall recruit from the 2024 class according to the On3 Industry Ranking. That makes him Kentucky’s highest-rated high school quarterback commit since Drew Barker, who was also a Bluegrass native but never panned out as a Wildcat.

Stoops has found ways, especially over the last few years, to bring in high-quality quarterbacks through the transfer portal, but eventually, there needs to be some consistency at that position before Kentucky can take the “next step”. The plan is for Boley to learn behind incoming quarterback Brock Vandagriff (a transfer from Georgia and former five-star recruit) for at least one year before plugging him in as the future of the program down the road.

“With Cutter, he’s a guy we know very well,” Stoops added. “We’ve been around him a bunch. We appreciate the time that Scott (dad) and Mary Beth (mom) and Cutter have spent over here visiting with us and spending time in our facility and coming to games and coming to Junior Days and just visiting with them. He has all the intangibles you’re looking for, he has all the physical attributes that you’re looking for. Really had a great year and he’s just a guy I think we can build around.”

Cutter Boley (joined by his mom and dad) put ink to paper at KSBar today.

The 4-star QB is officially a Kentucky Wildcat. pic.twitter.com/4nVt7r3Dks

— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) December 20, 2023

Boley has already spent plenty of time around the program since committing back in May. He was a constant presence during summer camps where he got some early coaching from offensive coordinator Liam Coen. He’s been an important recruiter too, using longstanding friendships with guys like TE Willie Rodriguez and WR Hardley Gilmore to help bring them with him to Lexington — two Kentucky signees he’ll soon be throwing the ball to in practice.

But now it’s all official. His high school days are nearly behind him. The real journey is about to begin.

Boley was recruited by all of the big-name programs — from Michigan to Penn State to Tennessee and more — but it was always going to be tough convincing him to sign anywhere else other than Kentucky.

“It’s definitely nice to just finally make it official,” Boley said on Wednesday. “I feel like I’ve been part of the family for a while now, since I committed pretty early. I couldn’t be any more happy with my decision to come to the University of Kentucky. It’s always been where my heart is at and I can’t wait to spend the next four years here.”

That last sentence is the important part. Boley understands that he’s not expected to come in right away and start as a true freshman. The plan is to develop and learn under Vandagriff before being handed the keys to the future once he’s ready.

“I can’t wait to take these next few years to really develop and really learn the offense and get comfortable in the system,” Boley added. “I’m not going anywhere, my heart’s here in Lexington and that’s where I want to stay.”

As an early enrollee, Boley will get an even larger head start on his college development. He’ll set up shop at UK in January (where he expects to room with OL Aba Selm, another in-state prospect) and spend all spring learning Coen’s pro-style offense. From there, it’ll be on Boley to develop into the future of the program.

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