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Kentucky has won three straight games and for the third week in a row quarterback Cutter Boley has been named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week.
Boley has completed 159 of 231 passes for 1,780 yards and 13 touchdowns with eight interceptions. His 68.8 completion percentage would be the second best single season mark behind 72.3 percent by Tim Couch when he completed 400 of 553 passes and just ahead of the 68.7 percent mark Maxwell Smith had in 2013.
Boley completed his first eight passes and last 10 against Tennessee Tech to go 18 for 21 passing for 236 yards and a touchdown and also ran for a 30-yard score. His completion percentage of 85.7 percent is the best for a UK quarterback (min. 20 attempts) since Bill Ransdell completed 86.9 percent (20 of 23) vs. Florida on Nov. 15, 1986.
Over the last five games he has completed 111 of 147 passes, a 75.5 percent completion rate.
Boley led UK to six touchdowns on the eight possessions he played against Tennessee Tech, which had won 15 straight games. He became the first UK quarterback with a 45-yard passing touchdown and a 30-yard rushing score in the same game since Pookie Jones in 1993. His 30-yard scoring run was the longest by a Kentucky quarterback since Terry Wilson had a 32-yard score in 2020.
Boley is the first Kentucky quarterback with a completion percentage of at least 74 percent in four games in one season since Couch, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 NFL draft, did it in 1998 when UK went to the Outback Bowl. He’s also the first UK freshman quarterback with a touchdown pass in four straight games since Jared Lorenzen in 2000.
Boley also won the SEC award when he completed 18 of 23 passes for 168 yards and two scores against Florida and became the first UK freshman starting quarterback to beat Florida since Terry Henry in 1979.
Against Auburn Boley was 18 of 29 passing for 161 yards and one score to also win the SEC award. He was the first UK freshman quarterback to win an SEC road game since Morgan Newton, Boley’s high school quarterback coach, at Georgia in 2009.
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The Wildcats (5-5, 2-5 SEC) play at No. 12 Vanderbilt Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
4 Responses
Where would Boley and UK be if he got the start on Day 1???
A team feared by SEC opponents with a7 or 8 wins at this point.. I wonder who tries to “recruit over” Boley and wasted $1.25 Mil ? HC & OC ?
The lost experience in 2 games is irreplaceable. The players have responded to Boley.
Vandy has shed the cellar dweller label & will
Be very tough to beat on their home turf.
Vandy has developed the mindset…We don't lose to Kentucky! It will be up to us to prove them wrong.
Vanderbilt used to be the one game you could almost count as a win just a couple of years ago. All it takes is a great QB to put it all on the line for the team and the team will respond. Like Kentucky has done the last 4-5 weeks they have gotten much better. They have the losing mindset now it's getting better. Pavia is by far the best QB in the SEC. Next year Boley will be the best QB in the SEC. He will be a all SEC Freshman team this year. Next year he will be All SEC first or second team. So this game will show the best right now Pavia and the best QB of the future Boley. Yes Mark Stoops made a big mess up by recruiting over Boley but if you are questioning why watch the Louisville game from last year. Boley looked terrible. Stoops didn't know how much Boley would develop in 8 months. Calzada was insurance. He didn't pan out. It happens all the time in the NFL and College. Some players just don't develop and improve that much. Look at Calzada he's 25 he was excellent at Texas a&m as a redshirt freshman. Threw for 2,200 yards in 10 games very similar to cutter Boleys freshman stats. Then he played for 2 years at incarnate word and dominated won all the awards. Last year's NFL first pick also played for incarnate word. So Stoops thought him being 25 and playing a ton of football that he would be more experienced and better than Boley really anybody would think that. I did. Everyone I know did. Nobody wanted Boley to start this year after the way he played last year. So Stoops made a mistake he didn't know Boley would be this good this year. Remember the South Carolina game? 4 turnovers in the second quarter. Boley has gotten better every game and I expect that to continue. He's a great leader. The team plays there ass of for him. He loves Kentucky and he wants to win. We have our QB just a year earlier than expected which means he will get better and better. Next year will be a very excited year and football team. If we don't make the playoffs we will be damn close.
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