In a late-season non-conference game with a small crowd, players can play unmotivated and unenergetic, but Cutter Boley changed that in the team’s 42-10 win over Tennessee Tech.
It’s clear that there has been a shift in energy within the program from both fans and players since the Kentucky native took over under center.
The redshirt freshman has had a few early highlights in his short time as the starter, and it has made fans excited for what’s to come the rest of this season and beyond.
One of the defining moments of Boley’s early career was a tight loss over Texas where he broke away for a scramble and decided to slide.
However, he came up just short of the first down, and it cost Kentucky a chance to score a touchdown.
That same opportunity presented itself in a bit of a different way against the Golden Eagles, but Boley did not take the conservative approach.
With 2:40 left to go in the first quarter, Boley took the snap and dropped back into the shotgun attempting to pass, but the pocket quickly collapsed.
This forced Boley to his left as Golden Eagles defenders were closing in on him but he tucked the ball into his left arm and began scrambling.
The youngster galloped down the sideline and found his way barreling towards the endzone.
As he closed in on the 5-yard line, he was met by a defender and instead of going out of bounds, he lowered his shoulder and trucked over two defenders to hit paydirt and put a touchdown on the board for Kentucky.
The touchdown sparked a huge ovation from the fans at Kroger Field and Boley was smothered by his teammates who were going ballistic after the play.
His teammates on the sideline followed suit on that, but while they loved it, his coaches’ reactions were a bit different.
“I was a little bit dumbfounded. And I said, ‘Did he score?’ Then he scored. You know what, that’s fun,” Head Coach Mark Stoops said. “That’s fun. You do not want to see that. We were just talking about that and we gotta teach them how to protect themselves a little bit. Some of that is going to kinda fire up your team. For him to lower his shoulder and get in the endzone just shows another element to his game and what he’s willing to do for his team.”
His play caller, Offensive Coordinator Bush Hamdan, is not on the sidelines for games as he sits in the coach’s box high above the field of play.
“A lot went through my mind,” Hamdan said. “He’s got that competitive nature, and you know he’s probably gotta be smarter in those situations, but you don’t want to pull too back off that.”
The second-year coordinator elaborated on when he’d like to see his quarterback take risks like that versus playing it safe.
“If we’re talking fourth quarter and it’s a critical third-and-6 on the line, I think there’s a chance to insert yourself, from a leadership standpoint,” Hamdan said. “But certainly, from a value standpoint, you got to learn to protect yourself. You got to learn when it’s okay to run out of bounds but not take the competitive nature away from them.”
Despite being the man that provided the spark, Boley is not blind to the fact that plays like that might not be the best idea.
“Yeah, that probably wasn’t smartest on my part,” Boley said. “I wasn’t really thinking about that at the time, I was just playing. Yeah, I need to slide.”
As mentioned, while his coaches and even himself might’ve had some reservations about the play, his teammates could not have loved it more.
“I feel like if the quarterback sets the tempo, it’s definitely a vibe that goes through everybody,” Kendrick Law said. “If you couldn’t see the sideline, you should go back and look at what we all thought, not just me.”
Boley has led the Wildcats to a three-game winning streak and one game away from bowl contention with just two games left in 2025.
Boley will have another chance to make his next highlight on Saturday, Nov. 22, as the Wildcats hit the road to take on No. 14 Vanderbilt with kickoff set for 3:30.
