What does ASU’s Cutter Boley need to show in fall camp to lock down starting QB job?

Across the country’s starting quarterback competitions, you’re not going to find many heavier favorites this fall than Arizona State’s Cutter Boley.

Everything about how he arrived in Tempe — from head coach Kenny Dillingham recruiting him four years ago while at Oregon to Boley’s commitment coming just two days into the portal cycle — indicates it’s his job to lose.

But Dillingham said the competition will continue into the fall, and any gap that was observed in spring between Boley and the other signal callers wasn’t big enough to make this a fake competition.

CBS Sports has gone as far as to say transfer Mikey Keene, who has 39 games of experience at UCF and Fresno State (and spent last season as a backup at Michigan), is “pushing … and has a real shot at winning” the starting job. Freshman Jake Fette flashed a lot in his first spring, too.

“The biggest thing in a quarterback battle is you want somebody to separate themselves,” Dillingham told reporters at Big 12 Media Days. “If somebody separates themselves, well then the team knows it, everybody knows it and (being named the starter is) just a formality.”

The coach said he’s willing to go all the way to the week of the opener against Morgan State on Sept. 5 for when he’d name QB1, but it could happen before then.

The last time there was a QB competition at ASU in 2024, Sam Leavitt really separated from Jeff Sims while up at Camp Tontozona. With 2026 fall camp around the corner, what does Boley need to do to lock the job down in the same way?

2 biggest boxes for ASU’s Cutter Boley to check in fall camp

Keep the turnovers down

Boley gained valuable experience starting in the SEC as a redshirt freshman at Kentucky.

The caliber of defenses he regularly faced outmatches most of what he’d see this season at ASU, whether from a size, physicality or athleticism standpoint. That, coupled with his own inexperience, was a big reason why he threw 12 interceptions, tied for the second most among SEC quarterbacks.

Boley told the SunDevilSource Podcast before spring camp that he was trying to do too much in many of those situations, as Kentucky often faced large deficits and he mistakenly would try to get it all back with one throw.

Those turnovers did not show up much in spring camp, which comes with a list of caveats, such as things not moving at game speed or a new-look defense that’s feeling itself out as much as Boley and the offense are.

He’ll have to balance any turnovers he does make in fall camp by showing that his process is in the right place, that he’s not trying to force things as much as he did as a redshirt freshman.

He’ll have the benefit of a more hands-on Dillingham, who will remain working closer with the offense after a more active role calling plays during the Sun Bowl, where the offensive sequencing hummed.

Continue to build chemistry with the receivers

Boley’s visit to ASU before he committed included a dinner with coaches and receiving targets, including eventual commits Omarion Miller and Raiden Vines-Bright.

The QB was the first to commit, and he said it was his responsibility to then help recruit the talent around him. A call to another eventual big-ticket commit, Reed Harris, followed the dinner before it was onto working out together and feeling out their connections.

It didn’t take long for that preparation to show up in full team settings once spring camp got underway, as Harris and Miller took center stage as some of the top talents across the roster.

Boley consistently got the most snaps alongside the top talents in spring, including taking snaps from likely starting center and Georgia Tech transfer Tana Alo-Tupuola as well.

That has continued into the summer, as Boley was seen working out with Vines-Bright and other wideouts Cory Butler Jr. and Michael “Butter” Tollefson in Newport Beach, California, with Pittsburgh Steelers rookie quarterback Drew Allar.

If Boley hits the ground running in fall camp looking like he’s known these receivers for more than just the past handful of months, the competition could get wrapped up in a hurry.

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