Cutter Boley wins quarterback competition, named Arizona State’s starter

TEMPE — Cutter Boley was named Arizona State’s starting quarterback by head coach Kenny Dillingham on Saturday, one week away from the team’s season opener.

“We think Cutter (gives us) the best opportunity to go win football games,” Dillingham said. “We feel like he deserves it and he won it.”

The news was first reported before ASU practice on Saturday by multiple reporters, including ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Sun Devil Source’s Chris Karpman.

After entering and leaving spring camp as the clear favorite to win the job, Boley won a four-way competition between sixth-year Mikey Keene, freshman Jake Fette and the lone returning quarterback from last season’s squad, sophomore Cam Dyer.

Boley and Keene alternated working with the first- and second-team offenses in the Camp T scrimmage, having separated from the two younger signal-callers. They each had something on the other in the scrimmage, as Keene hit on the day’s only deep ball but threw an interception while Boley did not.

Boley then got the vast majority of first-team reps in the nearly two weeks since Camp T, a sign he had moved past the vet.

Some grew antsy about why the decision took up until a week before the opener, but Dillingham indicated it never felt that way internally because of how lopsided the rep distribution was.

“To be honest, I didn’t really care to name one. I know it was probably wildly anticipated, but we were just operating. It wasn’t really on my mind that it was a big deal, we were operating how we operated,” Dillingham said.

Cutter Boley’s path to being named ASU’s starting quarterback

Ahead of becoming the first transfer portal addition to commit to ASU over the offseason, the 6-foot-5 Boley rekindled his relationship with Dillingham, who was recruiting the Kentucky native to Oregon while serving as the Ducks’ offensive coordinator.

Boley was the No. 38 quarterback in the 2024 high school class, according to 247 Sports. He spurned Dillingham and Oregon, instead committing to Kentucky to play for then-offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who left for the NFL before Boley’s freshman season.

He played four games as a true freshman and threw two touchdowns with four interceptions across 53 attempts.

In his redshirt freshman season, he was the Wildcats’ main quarterback after beginning the year as a backup, completing 65.8% of his passes for 2,160 yards with 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also rushed for two touchdowns en route to SEC All-Freshman honors.

He then entered the portal — ranked as the No. 15 transfer QB — as the keys to Kentucky’s program were handed from Mark Stoops to Will Stein.

Boley’s interceptions have been the biggest concern when envisioning him as ASU’s starter. His 4% interception rate last year at Kentucky was far beyond either of Sam Leavitt’s two seasons (1.7% and 1.3%) in Tempe. Jeff Sims, who had 10 touchdowns and six interceptions across 188 attempts in 2025, had a 3.2% interception rate.

Ball security was a point of emphasis throughout the competition because of it, and he acquitted himself very well throughout spring and fall camp.

While on his transfer portal visit, Boley helped secure two of his pass-catching weapons, Omarion Miller and Raiden Vines-Bright, and later put in a phone call that helped earn the commitment of Reed Harris.

 

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The receiver room is stacked with talent to help bring Boley along, also including three of the five most productive wideouts from last season in Jalen Moss, Derek Eusebio and Jaren Hamilton. Sophomore Cory Butler Jr. has been a standout in the room as well.

ASU opens its season on Sept. 5 against Morgan State before playing at No. 8 Texas A&M and in London against Kansas.

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