Kentucky football is looking to work out some growing pains that have reared its ugly head so far this season on the offensive side of the ball in its week three matchup against Eastern Michigan.
This will be coming with a quarterback change according to Nick Roush of KSR as he reported that Cutter Boley will be starting against Eastern Michigan.
Zach Calzada started the first two games under center for Kentucky in his seventh year of college ball but was removed from the loss against Ole Miss with a shoulder injury.
However, Kentucky Offensive Coordinator Bush Hamdan confirmed Calzada was back at practice Tuesday and that we may see both quarterbacks play against the Eagles.
“We’re in a position to have both guys ready to go, equal practice reps and get them both ready,” Hamdan said. “We know we have to play better at all levels so both of those guys will be ready to go.”
It has been a long-standing debate this season about which quarterback should be on the field since the offense has not been productive in the passing game to begin the season in 2025.
This had led to the dual quarterback system that might be on display in week three for the Wildcats but is unlikely to remain a fixture for the rest of the season.
The youngster Boley has very little experience so far as a redshirt freshman, but the jump he has made this fall has kept him in the mix and his play caller is pleased with his progress.
“I think he’s looked good,” Hamdan said. “I think anytime you start mixing that again, when you have a newer quarterback with the first team, there are some nuances there, them getting used to his cadence a little bit, but again they’ll do a great job, he’s been in this position and he’s doing a great job out there.”
Moving away from the quarterback situation, Kentucky had a lot of procedural issues that cost them drives and possible points in the seven-point loss to Ole Miss. These types of things will be critical for Kentucky who has a gauntlet of an SEC schedule remaining this season with its next five SEC opponents all being ranked in the AP Top 25.
“People don’t really understand what was going on, but we as a group in-house know what we got to work on,” Ja’Mori Maclin said about those issues. “I think just picking up on those small details, those small details probably led to use losing the game, and if we cleaned those up, we probably would’ve won the game.”
Facing a non-conference opponent gives the Wildcats a bit more room for error, which allows them to try and work through these issues while there is a little bit less pressure than in primetime SEC matchups.
Despite turnover at the quarterback position and overall disappointment so far, there is still a lot of confidence from the top that this offense can get back on track.
“It starts with me, we’ve been here before at Kentucky, I’m not sitting here under my table hiding,” Hamdan said. “We got a chance to be a very good football team and a very good offense, and we got 40 guys who believe that and ultimately, right now, is all that matters and we’ve got a good opportunity this Saturday.”
Kentucky will look to take that confidence into Kroger Field on Saturday, Sept. 13, when it will host Eastern Michigan under the lights as kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ESPNU.
