Will Stein reveals conversations with Cutter Boley prior to leaving Kentucky

Kentucky head coach Will Stein spoke to the media on Monday for the first time since his introductory press conference. Stein, who served as Oregon‘s Offensive Coordinator until the Ducks were eliminated in the College Football Playoff Semifinals by eventual National Champion Indiana, was hired as Kentucky‘s head coach on Dec. 1 to succeed former head coach Mark Stoops.

Due to Stein’s strong resume in developing quarterbacks such as Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel, and Dante Moore, many were excited to see his development of quarterback Cutter Boley. Boley emerged as Kentucky‘s starting quarterback last season following an early injury to Zach Calzada, and earned All-SEC Freshman Team honors.

However, Boley made the decision to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal on Jan. 1. Just two days later, Boley committed to play for Kenny Dillingham and the Arizona State Sun Devils. During Monday’s press conference, Stein was asked about Boley and his departure.

“I wish him nothing but the best, that’s number one,” Stein said. “He’s a great person and obviously, I recruited him prior out to Oregon. There’s just some things that are out of our control. I felt like we put a really good plan together in place, but it just didn’t work out. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m really excited about what he does at his next venture.

“I just think he’s a great person and obviously he’s a good player. But, I know we’re excited about what we have here and what we have to offer our players. The players that we have are guys that have really bought into this University and are ready to make this place great.”

Kentucky hauled in Notre Dame’s Kenny Minchey to replace Cutter Boley

Across two seasons in Lexington, the Lexington Christian Academy alum completed 63.3% of passes for 2,498 yards and 17 touchdowns with 16 interceptions. He also recorded two more rushing scores on the ground.

To replace Boley, Stein landed a huge commitment from Notre Dame quarterback Kenny Minchey, who was the No. 66 ranked player (No. 12 QB) in On3’s Transfer Portal Industry Rating. Minchey originally committed to Nebraska on Jan. 4, but flipped to Kentucky just one day later. Stein spoke highly of the Hendersonville, TN native on Monday.

“(He’s) extremely accurate and he’s got great athleticism,” Stein said. “I think when you talk to him, when you guys meet him, he is a phenomenal person, very smart,” Stein said. “We did our background on him, everybody we talked to, even guys on (Notre Dame’s) staff felt like they still would have won 10 games with Kenny out there playing quarterback. I talked to NFL scouts on him and (I) feel like he’s got a really high upside in this game, and he’s somebody that I was really excited to get.”

Minchey, who narrowly lost the starting job at Notre Dame to CJ Carr, completed 20/26 passes for 196 yards in six games last season. Now, he seems poised to be Kentucky‘s eighth starting quarterback (Will Levis, Kaiya Sheron, Destin Wade, Devin Leary, Brock Vandagriff, Cutter Boley, and Zach Calzada) in the past six seasons.