Coach Will Stein talked with quarterback Cutter Boley after his first team meeting as UK's new coach. (UK Athletics Photo)
Kentucky fans rejoiced when Lexington Christian quarterback Cutter Boley picked Kentucky over Florida State, Michigan, Penn State, and many others two years ago.
Former Kentucky coach Mark Stoops called Boley the “future of UK football” on numerous occasions and believed UK had found a quarterback to develop rather than have to look in the transfer portal almost every year.
Boley, a five-star prospect, thought Liam Coen would be his offensive coordinator at Kentucky when he signed with the Cats. Instead, Coen left for the NFL and is now the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Stoops brought in Bush Hamden as offensive coordinator, and UK went 4-8 and 5-7 the last two seasons.
New Kentucky coach Matt Stein recruited Boley for Oregon, where he was offensive coordinator. New UK offensive coordinator Joe Sloan recruited Boley for LSU, where he was the offensive coordinator.
However, Stein and Sloan will not be coaching Boley, who started 10 games in 2025 and threw for 2,160 yards and 15 touchdowns. The redshirt freshman told ESPN’s Pete Thamel he would be putting his name into the transfer portal.
Boley’s agent had been hearing from plenty of teams that had interest in Boley, and those calls intensified after Boley went public with his intention to transfer. Before Stoops was fired, he had indicated Boley was “all in” about staying at Kentucky, even though Boley never said that because he wanted to see who would be coaching Kentucky.
Boley was at Stein’s introductory press conference, and the new coach had wasted no time reaching out to Boley. However, when I asked Stein about his relationship and plans for Boley, he was very guarded with his answer.
“Not just Cutter, but everybody on the team I’m excited to coach,” Stein said. “This is a great opportunity for me. I know we have a lot of great players here. Ready to get working with them.”
Sloan was more eager to work with Boley. He said his conversations with Boley had been “awesome” and that he was “excited” to work with him after being around him.
“Love what he did there during the year. I think he’s got a great future. So he’s been great. I recruited him back when he was in high school. We’ve had a long-standing relationship. Fantastic kid, tough, right? And really talented,” Sloan said.
Social media speculation started as soon as Boley’s transfer news hit. Some speculated Stein wanted to bring in a quarterback or two to compete for the starting job, and Boley wanted no part of that — remember Kentucky brought in Zach Calzada to “compete” with Boley last year, and Calzada got the job immediately.
Maybe Boley just didn’t want to do that again, knowing a quarterback a new coach brings in has to believe he will be the starter, or he would not transfer. Oregon quarterback Austin Novosad has already announced he is entering the transfer portal, and Boley, who was named to the all-SEC first team, might believe that it is already Stein’s choice to run his offense.
There was speculation that other schools might be offering more money than Stein and Kentucky wanted to invest in the Kentucky native. In today’s world, that could well be a factor here.
Boley ranked third in the league in pass completion percentage (65 percent) in the SEC last season behind Gunner Stockton of Georgia and Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia. That’s why Arizona State has already popped as a possible landing spot for Boley. Starter Sam Leavitt has thrown for 4,513 yards and 34 scores for Arizona State, but is entering the transfer portal, and Boley could be the top choice already for the Sun Devils.
Boley completed 74 percent of his passes in four of five games in the middle of the season, but Boley and the Cats struggled in losses to Vanderbilt and Louisville to end the season. Boley amassed 203 of his 290 passing yards in a 45-17 loss to Vanderbilt in the fourth quarter when he stayed in the game despite having a shoulder injury. He was 13 of 26 for 100 yards with two interceptions in the season-ending loss to Louisville, when he also refused to blame his shoulder injury for his numbers.
I was a bit surprised by the response of some UK fans who seemed to blame Boley entirely for last year’s issues and indicated they were glad he was leaving. No, Boley was not perfect, but he certainly was not the biggest problem on UK’s offense.
The Cats currently have two quarterbacks — redshirt freshman Brennen Ward and five-star incoming freshman Matt Ponatoski (who could end up being a high pick in the Major League Baseball draft) — on the 2026 roster.
11 Responses
I wish Boley the best, but I think he is making a big mistake. The transfer portal and NIL are both totally out of control and it all got started with Congress sticking its nose in where it did not belong. It's time for the college and university presidents to break from the NCAA form a new oversight body for student athletes that puts getting an education first. They will have to say NO to CBS, ESPN, ABC, TNT, TBS and any other entertainment entity that tries to put their "two cents" into the pot because money is what caused this to go bad in the first place. They will also have to tell Congress to leave this alone and take them to court if they refuse to do so. If kids and their parents aren't interested in them getting an education, let them hire an agent right out of high school and see how well that works for the over whelming, vast majority of professional wannabes.
I agree
A major loss for UK!
Boley obviously got fed up with the shuffling of coaches and the “threat” of once again being “recruited over” even if a portal QB is not as good as Boley (re/ Calzada the money counter).
The “logic” ik seeing the writing on the wall with Stein’s Oregon QB hitting the portal make a lot of sense for anyone in Boley’s shoes.
Am I disappointed?
Major league DISAPPOINTED.
I don’t “blame” Boley.
I don’t “blame” Stein.
The broken and completely shattered “college system” has turned amateur college sports into a Las Vegas nightmare with every program having to operate as a Casino trying to get everyone else’s customers.
I can only hope the former Stein QB quickly goes elsewhere and Cutter decides to stay at UK. It sounds like new OC Sloan is chomping at the bit to have him!
Stein has to be careful not to over-emphasize wanting Boley since every GOOD UK player wants to feel really wanted & needed.
Gotta be more to the story. Bad opening day for 26’ !
I was hoping he would stay as well.
I know Boleys cousin. Her name is Julie. She's been telling me for almost two weeks that Boley is going to Arizona state but don't tell nobody yet. So the day he said he would be looking at his options he already knew where he was going. The good news is Arizona States QB is in the portal. The same QB as a redshirt freshman that took Arizona state to the big 12 championship and the college playoff. He's on another level than Boley. If we make the switch I'm very happy with who we got. leavitt is much better than Boley. Better runner and has alot better arm and presence in the pocket. If we don't get Leavitt then I dont like Boley leaving. If we get Leavitt you dont have to worry about the QB position in 26 and 27. Leavitt has two years left. He's a winner. If you want Boley back rewatch the Louisville game and south Carolina game. Arizona states starting QB Leavitt is way better than Boley. If we get him. Going to Arizona state will also help Boley I think he will do good with them. Leavitt has a much higher ceiling than Boley. Stein knows this. Everyone knows this. It's whether we can get him or not. I think Boley is a crybaby. You never run away from competition. He didn't want to compete for the starting job in college? He definitely won't like the NFL. Steins offense you need a mobile QB and Boley isn't a mobile QB. Hes to uncoordinated and trips over his own feet.
I agree with you and just read that Leavitt is visiting Kentucky soon. That will be a good trade.
According to the information I can find Oregons QB has not officially entered the portal. He is their 3rd string QB anyway. Arizona States starting QB is visiting Ky and it looks like there could be a swap with Boley. I wouldn't count Ponatoski out of the starter race.
As far as NIL goes, the Crooked Supreme Court started this mess. Congress is the only one that can fix it. Greedy schools, agents, television executives, players, etc. won't fix it. There must be "law of the land" legislation passed and codified to put a stop to the madness. Law Makers are to busy kissing their Kings ass to bother with it. By the way, Congress can't be sued for the laws they make and pass.
That depends weather Ponatoski enter the draft or not and to be honest I think he will stick to baseball only. but who knows.
I think Ponatoski is the future. Leavitt is visiting and if we can get him with Baxter the 5* running back from Texas who was a freshman last year who is also visiting along with Wide receiver Simmons who is also visiting we will have some fire power next year. He's also pursuing some monster tackles 3 of them each taller than 6'7" 330 pounds on average. We need two of the three to sign. That would just as huge as whatever QB we get. You have to give the QB time. Stein knows this and we will have a much better offensive line next year. Im glad the starters are gone. Besides Farmer I didn't see anything special. He wasn't great either. The players Stein is going after are on another level. No more soft zone coverage either. We are going to blitz heavy and play tight man to man. No more loser mentality. Now whether he lands any of these players is another topic. If we do I'm expecting very big things here very soon. If we get the tackles and guards. With Leavitt, Baxter, Simmons, Rodriguez, watch out we will score a bunch of points. I also am really high on receiver Freshman Dallas Dickerson. On the defense Ben Duncum looks like a NFL lineman as a true freshman. His arms look like hulk Hogan's. He's a monster. Great run defensive lineman. High motor. We also have some stud receivers coming to Lexington. I do hope Gilmore and both the Millers at receiver stay. They have high ceilings. On defense Bryant and Humphrey Grace are the only two ive heard are staying. I would love for Sam Green to come back. Along with Alonzo Cowan. I also like Godfrey and Nichols. Waller wasn't going to be able to hang. He's to slow to play man to man. The writing was on the wall. He will probably go to the big ten.
If Boley wants to go for the money then show him the door. I could care less if he's from KY if he's willing to sell us out for a few bucks.
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