Calzada, Boley Provide Cats with Depth at Quarterback
Kentucky football head coach Mark Stoops held his preseason press conference on Monday. Stoops answered a wide variety of questions before the topic that most people would be most interested in hearing about was brought up.
The Cats will have a new quarterback this season. The presumed starter is transfer Zach Calzada, who has been on the roster at Texas A&M, Auburn and, most recently, Incarnate Word. Calzada has a ton of experience, having been the starter for the Aggies in 2021 and serving as a starter at IWU for the last two seasons.
However, Kentucky has another option at quarterback. Redshirt freshman Cutter Boley showed some flashes of brilliance last season in limited action. Stoops feels good about both of his quarterback options.
“We feel good about it. We all know we need to play better at that position, but we all know we need to play better around him,” Stoops said. “We need to give him some time. We need to make tough catches. We need to have balance, and we need to help those QBs out.”
In addition to Calzada and Boley, Stoops points out that it’s helpful to have Beau Allen in the quarterback room as well.
“I feel very good about those guys. With having above Beau Allen back as such a mature, smart, almost like a player/coach third, we could invest a ton of reps in the top two guys, and they need a lot of reps,” Stoops said. “Just continuity and just continuing to develop that rapport within the receivers and the O-line and getting the reps. Zach and Cutter are two guys we feel very good about.”
“You’ll see them participate, and you’ll see what they can do, but I have a lot of confidence in both guys,” Stoops said. “We’ll go from there.”
Calzada has completed 731 of 1,163 passes in his career for 8,707 passing yards with 73 touchdowns and 28 interceptions. He has also rushed for 11 touchdowns. Last season, while leading Incarnate Word to the FCS playoffs, Calzada connected on 347 of 528 through the air for 3,791 yards and 35 touchdowns.
Boley played in four games for UK last season, completing 26 of 53 passes for 338 yards with two scores and four interceptions. Playing at No. 3 Texas, Boley completed 10 of 18 passing for a career-high 160 yards.
Stoops admitted on Monday that Calzada has the early advantage, but that there’s plenty of time until the season opener.
If there was a game tomorrow, Zach would be under center, but this whole depth chart is going to move before — well, not the whole depth chart, but it can,” Stoops said. “It’s all open to move by the first game. We have a lot of practices to go through.”
The quarterback battle will get a lot of attention this fall as the Cats prepare for the 2025 campaign. Both Calzada and Boley will make their cases as to why they should be the starter when the Cats face Toledo on Aug. 30.
