Dillingham wants ASU’s starting QB named by 9-10 days ahead of opener at the latest

TEMPE — Arizona State football opens its season on Sept. 5, and head coach Kenny Dillingham wants to name a starting quarterback by nine or 10 days in advance at the latest.

That’s when ASU will begin game planning for Morgan State, and the coach doesn’t want any doubt about who will lead the Sun Devils’ offense. Ideally, he said Wednesday, that person separates themselves earlier than that, and it’s clear to everyone watching.

Redshirt sophomore Cutter Boley, who transferred after he earned SEC All-Freshman honors at Kentucky, took the majority of reps with the best receivers in spring camp, but his performance wasn’t far enough above the other three signal-callers to show the separation Dillingham is looking for.

All four quarterbacks had days where they looked the best, and they’ll each bring something different to the table when camp opens on Aug. 5.

Is Cutter Boley the favorite to be named ASU’s starting QB?

Dillingham wouldn’t call Boley the favorite when asked for a leader in the clubhouse, but the pair’s prior relationship dating to when Dillingham was Oregon’s offensive coordinator, the receiver transfers Boley helped secure and the NIL value would indicate it’s his job to lose.

Interceptions plagued Boley in his first college season as the regular starter, with a 4% interception rate that was higher than either of Sam Leavitt’s seasons at ASU (1.7% and 1.3%) and higher than Jeff Sims in 2025 (3.2%).

Boley tallied 15 passing touchdowns and two more on the ground compared to 12 interceptions. He has reflected since then that he was often just trying to do too much.

He certainly did not have the relative talent at skill positions or offensive line to be very competitive in the SEC, but all of that should be different in Tempe. This is ASU’s most talented team with the most competitive depth since Dillingham arrived, the coach said.

If he can nail down the ball security concerns and adapt to an offense that will be based around quick decisions and allow playmakers to do just that, he should have no problem sliding in as the starter.

He’s kept up the work throughout the summer, spending time with signal-callers like Pittsburgh Steelers rookie Drew Allar (with whom he bears a similar stature to, both listed at 6-foot-5) and former ASU star Taylor Kelly (2011-14).

“What I remember about (coaching) Taylor is he won a lot of games, and the players loved him,” said Dillingham, who was on staff under offensive coordinator Mike Norvell for Kelly’s final two seasons and was later a graduate assistant with Kelly.

“(Kelly is) super intelligent, always got tasks done, like he’s a winner. I think for me, when seeing our guys work out with a former player who found ways to win — under-recruited. People didn’t think he was going to win the quarterback battle when he was battling for it; he was the sneaky guy that showed up out of nowhere, then he wins 10 games. You want your guys to be surrounded by people that have habits of winners more than anything.”

Who are the other quarterbacks vying to be ASU’s starter?

Dillingham called Keene, who has 39 games under his belt between UCF and Fresno State before he was Bryce Underwood’s backup last season at Michigan, the most consistent spring performer among the quarterbacks.

“Mikey was Mr. Consistency throughout camp, and that’s kind of what we wanted to bring in,” Dillingham said. “We wanted to bring in some combinations of high ceilings with consistency, a lot of veteran leadership from him. I think we got a really good, natural competition going into camp.”

Keene has more than double the game experience of Boley (15), while the other two quarterbacks — true freshman Jake Fette and redshirt freshman Cam Dyer — are yet to see the college field.

Fette comes in without the top pedigree of facing the toughest competition after playing out his high school career in El Paso, and that showed up in how the game looked too fast for him much of spring. However, the ball pops out of his hand with high velocity, and he’s likely the most athletic of the four.

When talking ceilings, his is the highest.

Dyer is the lone returning quarterback, benefitting from the year he spent mostly off his feet and learning while recovering from a torn ACL. He was cleared late in the year and was Sims’ backup for the final five games of the season.

He’s the closest to Fette in the athleticism conversation, as he was originally going to flip to wide receiver at ASU before the injury changed plans.

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