Vote: Who should be UK’s starting quarterback against South Carolina?
Is it time to fully embrace the Cutter Boley experience?
Though Kentucky football never officially confirmed that the redshirt freshman would make his first start of the 2025 season in the team’s week 3 matchup against Eastern Michigan until the scoreboard flashed the starters right before the game, reports and whispers flurried throughout the week.
When Boley’s face appeared on the screen, present fans went wild; a celebratory roar echoed around the stadium, and the student section whipped its athletic-department-issued towels around in joyful fashion.
Zach Calzada, the seventh-year quarterback making his return to the SEC after two seasons with Incarnate Word, didn’t exactly impress in his first two starts with the Wildcats. And an unfortunate shoulder injury sustained against Ole Miss sidelined him from practice for a few days, but Calzada dressed and remained available against the Eagles in case of emergency.
Still-winless Eastern Michigan isn’t necessarily the best litmus test for who should lead UK into conference play following the bye week, as Herald-Leader football writer Jon Hale noted in his mailbag on Monday, “It is worth at least allowing for the possibility that Calzada would have also looked good against Eastern Michigan considering the quality of opponent.”
But the fact remains that Boley played a clean game and — alongside spark-plug running back Seth McGowan and tight ends Josh Kattus and Willie Rodriguez — guided the Wildcats to their second win of the season.
On Saturday, Boley completed 12 of 21 passing attempts for 240 yards and a pair of touchdowns with zero interceptions. That’s more passing yards and touchdowns — and one fewer pick — than Calzada has thrown through nearly two complete games this year.
Boley hasn’t yet demonstrated that he’s capable of carrying the Wildcats to a meaningful run through the Southeastern Conference, and Calzada quickly showed that Kentucky’s passing attack has seen brighter days, but someone has to line up under center.
So we turn to you — provided both quarterbacks are healthy exiting the bye week, who do you think should be UK’s starter when the Wildcats take the field at South Carolina on Sept. 27?
Let us know in the poll below. Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 22.
Feel free to send your reasoning to Herald-Leader sports reporter Caroline Makauskas via social media, the comment section below or through email at cmakauskas@herald-leader.com for a chance to be featured in a video next week.
This story was originally published September 16, 2025 at 5:32 PM.
