Cutter Boley makes UK his football home

Former LaRue County High School student-athlete and highly recruited Lexington Christian quarterback Cutter Boley announced Thursday that he would attend Kentucky. Sitting with him are his mother, Mary Beth Boley, and his sister, Erin.

LEXINGTON – Kentucky coach Mark Stoops and top assistant Vince Marrow landed perhaps the biggest recruiting win in the duo’s 11-year tenure Thursday when four-star quarterback Cutter Boley announced he would play for the Wildcats.

The Lexington Christian standout from LaRue County is ranked as the sixth best quarterback in the nation for the Class of 2025, but during his announcement ceremony Thursday he confirmed he will be reclassifying to graduate in 2024 and enroll at Kentucky in January.

“I grew up a Kentucky fan,” Boley said Thursday. “I’ve always bled blue since I was young. Kentucky’s where my heart is. I knew that’s where I wanted to go.”

While having been raised in the Commonwealth, landing Boley was far from simple for UK.

Last season, Boley watched as Kentucky’s offense took a major step back under offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello, finishing 116th in the nation in total offense during the 7-6 season.

That poor showing was in contrast to 2021 when coordinator Liam Coen led UK’s offense to its most successful season of Stoops’ tenure. UK ranked fifth in the SEC in scoring offense and helped lead the team to its second 10-win season under Stoops.

Boley’s relationship with Kentucky took a hit when Coen left for a job with the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL. He did not have the same bond with Scangarello and that led to other schools, including rival Tennessee, gaining momentum in the recruiting effort.

“Tennessee was ahead for a while,” Boley admitted. “Michigan, all those top five schools, Florida State, they all really made a push for me and they all recruited me really hard.”

When Scangarello was fired, clearing the path for Coen’s return, the relationship quickly healed.

“It was Coen coming back, me building that relationship with him,” Boley said. “They’ve just got something special going on there with the offense.”

Not only did Coen himself make a strong impression on Boley, but so did former quarterbacks Will Levis, the 33rd player selected in last month’s NFL Draft, and newcomer Devin Leary, who transferred from North Carolina State so he could play with Coen this season.

“He has nothing but great things to say about Coach Coen,” Boley said of Levis. “And also Devin Leary has nothing but great things to say about him and he’s not even been there for that long.

“What Coach Coen could do, just how smart he is with the game and just what he knows about the game,” Boley said. “When I see him coaching the quarterbacks, I like how he talks to his quarterbacks. I like how he coaches them. I like the points he gives. I just feel like all around, we’re gonna be really good together.”

Boley started his prep career at LaRue County, completing 139 of 269 passes for 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions over 18 games as a freshman and sophomore. Last season at Lexington Christian, the 6-foot-5, pro-style quarterback completed 254 of 400 passes for 3,901 yards with 36 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 13 games.

He is also a player that has a demonstrated football IQ and leadership qualities.

“Seven o’clock this morning. He was out here throwing balls to a couple of kids that some other coaches are looking at,” Lexington Christian head coach Doug Charles said. “He comes up and does that and he takes his linemen out for breakfast this morning, before this deal ... He is the real deal on off the field. Checks every box.”

Boley is the highest ranked quarterback to sign with Kentucky since Tim Couch, who was the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick in 1999.

Boley hopes to break a trend of where UK finds its quarterbacks. Since 2016, only transfers have been at the controls for UK.

“They definitely wanted to fix that,” Boley said. “They wanted to get a guy young to develop him and put him in the offense the right way instead of having to learn in one year. I felt like I was that guy.”

Log In

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,racist or sexually-oriented language.PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.Don't Threaten. Threats of harming anotherperson will not be tolerated.Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyoneor anything.Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ismthat is degrading to another person.Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link oneach comment to let us know of abusive posts.Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitnessaccounts, the history behind an article.Terms of Use. The complete terms of use policy canbe found at the bottom of this page.