Mixed Messaging: Kentucky is Excited About Boley, but Commends Vandagriff's Toughness

There is some mixed messaging on what’s happening at the quarterback position for Kentucky. That’s to say that the Wildcats aren’t committing to anyone and are saying nice things about everyone.

Obviously, the headline from the Murray State game was the play of Cutter Boley. The true freshman from Lexington Christian Academy played the entire second half. The Cats finished every drive with points. He was 10-14 for 130 yards and two touchdowns.

“I know people are going to get real excited about that, and I am too. I told you all along, I thought he was very special young man,” Mark Stoops opened with in his postgame press conference.

“But I just want to thank Brock too. He is one tough son of a gun. He really didn’t get cleared to play this game until yesterday afternoon, like late afternoon, and had to clear some more protocols to be cleared to play. He’s just such a team guy and a lot of people wouldn’t have done that.”

Brock Vandagriff may have been tough, but he looked like a guy who did not get cleared to play until Friday afternoon. He threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Hardley Gilmore in the first quarter, but the under-thrown ball should have been intercepted. On the very next snap, he threw a similar pass well short of his intended target downfield that was picked off.

“We’re going to have to look at them again,” Bush Hamdan said after the game. “We know Brock’s a warrior. Again, it’s been back and forth this week with him trying to do everything he could to get himself ready to play. Everything this team wants to be, he certainly is. And I commend Cutter because he was in a situation where he was taking every rep this week as well. For both those guys to come out there, some good positives.”

Vandagriff finished the day 12-19 for 183 yards and two touchdowns, including one that capped off a two-minute, 91-yard drive to close out the first half.

Will the Keys be Handed to Boley?

We must remind ourselves that as well as Cutter Boley played, it was against one of the worst defenses in the FCS. However, it was abundantly clear that the offensive operation looked smoother when Boley was under center. When Hamdan was asked if this performance gave him enough confidence to roll with Cutter in a game at Texas, the offensive coordinator said this.

“It’s a great opportunity for him (against Murray State). You never know on that kinda of stage how he’s going to respond. He looked really good today, he really did, and I think that’s a huge bonus for us,” said Hamdan.

Mark Stoops was asked what he would say to fans who watched this game and believe that Cutter Boley should be given the keys of the offense for the rest of the season. The head coach did not extinguish the possibility that we may see more of Boley.

“Every day in our building, we have to evaluate every player,” Stoops said. “But I have so much respect and admiration for Brock and what he’s done. And like I said, the fact that he went and got out there and played, and what he went through to get cleared, to go play that game, says a lot about him.

“But yeah, we evaluate things all the time. We talked about after the bye, coming back, regrouping, and really trying to finish this last third of the season. We have a big one next week, another great opportunity.”

Who will get that opportunity at Texas? Your guess is as good as mine.