Arizona State has named Kentucky transfer Cutter Boley as their starting quarterback for the season, according to multiple reports, meaning the Aggies will be facing the former Wildcat when the Sun Devils come to town on September 12. Boley started several games for Kentucky last year as a sophomore and came to Tempe following the departure of Sam Leavitt.
Boley finished tied for 12th among SEC quarterbacks with Beau Pribula last year in yards per attempt, ahead of only DJ Lagway and Jackson Arnold among qualifying passers. That’s not really what you want to see out of a quarterback, of course, but it should be noted that Boley had a lot stacked against him given the team he was playing for and those he was playing against.
He boasts decent accuracy, averaging a 65.8 completion percentage last season— higher than Reed’s roughly 62%— but there wasn’t a lot of downfield passing. That could certainly change in Tempe, though, thanks to the fact that the Sun Devils snagged two premium receivers out of the portal this past cycle.
Texas A&M set to face Kentucky transfer Cutter Boley in week 2 matchup vs Arizona State
Clark Brooks of On3 gave about as in-depth of a breakdown of the numbers that Boley puts up as you’ll find anywhere, and he cautions that the Kentucky transfer is clearly uncomfortable with taking risks down the field.
Cutter Boley's Impact Sample is a good cautionary tale judging a passer *just* off raw accuracy...
— Clark Brooks (@clarkbrooks_On3) May 4, 2026
lowest overall ANY/A in the group despite the silver medal in Accuracy%
keep this in the back of your mind when Jake Fette makes that ASU QB battle interesante pic.twitter.com/awXAKnGaAv
That could be great news for an Aggie defense that has much more versatility all over the field than they have since Mike Elko arrived. If Boley only ever is taking underneath passes, the Aggies can suffocate the ASU offense and let their talented corners stay on islands the entire game.
This underscores how much the loss of Sam Leavitt was a debilitating one for the Sun Devils. Leavitt, now at LSU, was really the engine that made that offense go for Kenny Dillingham, as fans saw in their College Football Playoff matchup a few years ago.
Boley will try to replicate some of that success, but he is a very different player than Leavitt. Facing the resurgent Wrecking Crew on defense in week two in front of 100,000+ rabid fans will not do a lot to get him off to a good start, either.
Texas A&M should be able to feast against Boley, all else being equal, but Dillingham is known for his offensive innovation, so it’s not like this is an absolute layup. Still, this is essentially the news that Texas A&M fans wanted to see out of this quarterback contest.
Mike Elko has warned the Aggie faithful that this is not an opponent to be taken lightly, but there are a lot of things lining up well for Texas A&M in the lead up to their first game against a power team. We’ll have to see how things pan out on that day, but as of right now, there’s a lot that’s positive for Texas A&M.
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