Kentucky pressed the backup quarterback button in Week 3. This a program reeling that desperately needs something good to happen. The Cats have turned to a former massive high school recruiting win to help fix the offense. UK’s current season feels lost but it’s imperative that this program develops Boley and puts him in position to succeed. Things did not go well for the young quarterback in his first two power conference starts. That changed on Saturday.

In the 35-14 loss to Georgia, UK’s defense struggled, Seth McGowan left the game with an injury, and the Cats quickly became one-dimensional in the second half. Yet, the offense was able to find some success moving the football. Boley was a major reason why.

After struggling against South Carolina and looking rattled in UK’s 35-13 loss last week, Boley showed some real growth in Week 6 in arguably the best game of his collegiate career. The redshirt freshman finished the game completing 25-of-41 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns. UK made a concerted effort to get the ball out of his hands quickly, but when asked to make reads and throws, Boley showed real growth.

The young quarterback flashed the ability to play on time within the structure of Kentucky’s offense and showed some real accuracy. This is a performance that the young player and the entire offense can build on.

Cutter Boley plays on time to finish drives

Kentucky’s two scoring drives ended with Cutter Boley playing on time and making accurate throws. On a play-action pass, Boley quickly gets the ball to Josh Kattus after both linebackers step up to fit the run for an easy touchdown. On a sprint out in the low red zone, Boley connects Kendrick Law on a quick out after a stack formation creates easy separation against man coverage.

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These all look like simple throws but execution is king in football. The routine plays need to be routine. You have to make the lay-ups. Kentucky has struggled to make the lay-ups on offense. We’ve seen Boley’s big-play potential, but what will define his future at quarterback is the ability to execute the simple plays all the time.

No. 8 made the easy plays on Saturday.

Hitting the open man

On Saturday afternoon at Sanford Stadium, we saw Cutter Boley hit the checkdown, make accurate throws on sprint out concepts, and make a decisive read on fourth-and-long. One is an easy throw, another requires good fundamentals, and the third is just trusting your receiver and letting the football rip.

Any successful quarterback has to make easy throws and difficult throws but also must give himself a chance to make an assortment of throws by having his feet and shoulders in the right place due to good pre-throw technique. We saw all of that against Georgia.

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During the two-minute drill, Boley quickly gets to Seth McGowan on a checkdown to turn a second-and-six into a third-and-one. On a sprint out into the field, Boley fires a strike to Hardley Gilmore IV on a comeback route for a 15-yard gain. On fourth-and-long, the young quarterback finds a matchup he likes and pulls the pin at the top of his drop while giving Cameron Miller a chance to make a play on the ball.

Boley played on time throughout the game. That allowed him to have success.

Building off a strong performance

Kentucky is all-in on Cutter Boley. The Cats need him to become a good multi-year starter at quarterback. Having that in place will help build the rest of the roster in the upcoming offseasons. This year is quickly becoming about developing Boley for the future.

You saw some growth on Saturday.

Boley completed 25 passes to 11 different players in Week 6. The young quarterback got to his checkdowns, made accurate throws on the move, took some swings in the vertical passing game, and made quick decisions in play-action. The young starting quarterback looked the part.

Kentucky seems like it could have something with Boley. Could this performance be the start of something big? We all know this program desperately needs something good to happen. Boley might just provide the spark that the Wildcats need.