Spring Briefing: Another year, another QB1 at Kentucky

Preparations for the 2024 college football season are already underway at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility. In a few short weeks, cleats will be hitting the grass practice fields and/or the turf at the Nutter Field House as Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops oversees his 13th team at Kentucky. The Wildcats have offensive coordinator continuity for the first time for a normal spring practice since 2019, but once again, there will be another new starting quarterback in Lexington.

Former Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff went one-and-done at Kentucky and that led to the program going fishing for a starting quarterback in the transfer portal again. The Wildcats also lost QB2 Gavin Wimsatt (Jacksonville State) to the portal. Cutter Boley is returning after a redshirt season, but the program is not yet ready to give the local product the keys to the offense. Instead, offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan is turning to FCS transfer Zach Calzada.

The more things change, the more they stay the same for the Kentucky football program.

In KSR’s Spring Briefing series, we will cover every position on Kentucky’s roster before spring practice begins. First up is quarterback where Kentucky will have an old veteran, a promising young talent, two high school newcomers, and another super senior.

The Room

Zach Calzada (6-4, 230, Super Senior)

The class of 2019 signee began his career at Texas A&M and started 10 games for head coach Jimbo Fisher as a redshirt sophomore in 2021. Calzada transferred to Auburn in 2022, but missed the entire season due to an injury in his non-throwing shoulder. The Georgia native then spent two seasons at Incarnate Word and led his team to the playoffs in 2024. Calzada is a seventh-year senior with one season of eligibility remaining. The transfer has played 2,289 career snaps with 32 starts, a 23-9 record as a starter, 8,660 passing yards, 708 non-sack rushing yards, and 84 total touchdowns.

Beau Allen (6-2, 215, Super Senior)

The Lexington (Ky.) Catholic product spent his first two seasons at Kentucky before throwing for 2,357 yards and 22 touchdowns in 11 starts for FCS Tarleton State in 2022. Allen landed at Georgia Southern in 2023 and was forced to sit out due to NCAA transfer rules. The former high three-star recruit is back for year two in his second stint in Lexington and will give this room some much-needed experience.

Cutter Boley (6-5, 213, Redshirt Freshman)

The Lexington (Ky.) Christian Academy product played in four games and earned one start as a true freshman. Boley flashed in backup duty against Murray State and Texas, but struggled with ball security and decision-making against Florida and Louisville. The talented passer is the program’s future plan at quarterback but will enter this season as QB2 behind Calzada.

Stone Saunders (6-1, 210, Freshman)

The all-time Pennsylvania passing yards leader has enrolled early at Kentucky and will be competing for the QB3 job in both spring and fall camp. Saunders is a pocket passer who won multiple state titles at Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt. The true freshman has started his college football journey after throwing 200-plus touchdown passes in high school.

Brennen Ward (6-4, 213, Freshman)

The Greater Columbus native was the first high school recruiting win for Kentucky with new offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan on staff. Ward was a three-star recruit who UK will look to develop. Expect the early enrollee to receive a redshirt year in 2025.

Top Storyline: What can Bush Hamdan and Zach Calzada create?

Kentucky had some offensive infrastructure problems to fix this offseason. Before even getting to the most important position on the field, the Wildcats had to address offensive line, tailback, and wide receiver in a significant way in the transfer portal.

But this season could still come down to how the Bush Hamdan and Zach Calzada partnership gels and produces.

Hamdan threw a bunch of stuff at the wall in 2024 and nothing really ever stuck. That included changing quarterbacks constantly. That likely will not be in the cards this year unless Calzada disappoints. Kentucky — for the moment — is all-in on Calzada and this is a very important season for the 39-year-old Hamdan who must get some big-time improvement out of his offense after fielding one of the worst power conference offenses in college football last season.

Calzada will need the pieces around him to play better than what Kentucky got last season, but this offense will need this veteran to deliver poised and accurate playmaking. It’s on Hamdan to put the veteran in places to succeed. Kentucky hopes that all of the transfer additions make that a possible goal.

The spring will be about building a rapport with everyone on this new-look offense.

What to watch: Cutter Boley’s development now and throughout the season

Kentucky has to win games this season and that is the top priority for everyone in the program. That is the number one reason why the coaching staff went out and landed another transfer quarterback to become a plug-and-play starter, but there always has to be one eye on the future.

This SEC program needs Cutter Boley to be a big part of that future.

The current plan is for the local product to take over as UK’s starting quarterback in 2026 as a redshirt sophomore. This spring and fall will be about getting Boley ready to potentially become an impact performer for this program. Odds are that Kentucky will need him at some point this season to play snaps in a key moment.

Bold Prediction: Zach Calzada becomes third Mark Stoops QB to reach 20 total touchdowns

Patrick Towles (20 in 2014), Will Levis (33 in 2021, 21 in 2022), and Devin Leary (26 in 2022) are the only starting quarterbacks of the Mark Stoops era to reach 20 total touchdowns in a single season.

Zach Calzada will join them this fall.

The transfer quarterback has 11 career rushing touchdowns and can provide some value for the Wildcats in the low red zone. The transfer reached 17 touchdown passes in 10 starts for Texas A&M in 2021 and reached 19 touchdown passes in eight games at Incarnate Word in 2023 before his breakout season in 2024 where he accumulated 40 total touchdowns across 14 games.

The 20-touchdown mark is not setting the world on fire, but it would give this offense a much-needed shot in the arm. With the heavy transfer influx at wide receiver, Kentucky should be an offense that spreads the football around. Expect Nebraska tailback transfer Dante Dowdell to receive a ton of carries in the low red zone, but there should be enough opportunities over 12 games for Calzada to reach this mark.