2026 Positional Breakdown: Cutter Boley hopes to be Sun Devils' latest success story

Can you feel it coming in the air? Football is nearly back. The Sun Devils are hard at work in their summer practices, preparing for the season opener against FCS Morgan State in just under a month.

In anticipation of kickoff, we'll be doing a full breakdown of each position room on this team to get to know the new faces and some returning stars. Things start, of course, with the most position on the field: quarterback.

Cutter Boley hopes to be latest success story

Sam Leavitt got a bundle of money to transfer to LSU largely because of his meteoric rise at Arizona State under head coach Kenny Dillingham and offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo. Even when he went down with an injury last year, backup Jeff Sims played well enough to be named the Associated Press Player of the Week.

Next in line hoping for that kind of magic to rub off on him is Cutter Boley. The redshirt sophomore transferred in from Kentucky, where he started 15 games over two seasons. The Kentucky native left his hometown team after a coaching change and saw himself rated a 4-star transfer prospect, ranked as the 15th best quarterback in the portal this past spring.

Boley's tenure at Kentucky could best be described as high variance.

In four games as a true freshman, Boley connected on 49.1% of his passes with two touchdowns and four picks. Last year, in 11 games, he upped his completion rate to 65.8% and had 15 touchdowns to 12 interceptions.

Ball security is the biggest flaw for Boley right now. Picks and fumbles were a consistent issue at Kentucky, but many questioned if he had the right support system around him to grow in those areas.

Boley's raw talent is why he was rated four stars in the portal. He has a live arm, well-above-average mobility, and his Kentucky tape is littered with highlight plays. Much like Leavitt, Boley is a quarterback with immense potential in need of a little molding and some better structure around him.

Arizona State offers just that, especially after the elite talent they added to the receiving corps this past year via the portal. By most estimation, Boley now has everything he needs to become a star.

Mikey Keene wants to be a hometown hero

Dillingham undoubtedly wants Boley to be the guy, but he'll have to earn the starting job first. And standing in his way is fellow transfer Mikey Keene.

A former standout player at local Chandler High School, Keene began his college career by backing up Dillon Gabriel at UCF. He then transferred to Fresno State, where he became the starter for two seasons. There, he led the Bulldogs to a 25-11 record while hitting on 68.7% of his passes for 5,868 yards and 42 touchdowns to 21 interceptions.

Keene's tenure at Fresno State also involved demolishing Dillingham's Sun Devils 29-0 in Mountain America Stadium. It was the first time since 1988 that Arizona State had been shut out in a game, but Keene's precision passing helped the Bulldogs get a big lead early.

Keene spent last year at Michigan, though he never saw the field behind true freshman phenom Bryce Underwood. That allowed him one final year of eligibility and a chance to come play for his hometown team.

Unlike Boley, Keene has proven he can be a legitimate starting quarterback you can win with. He's more of the game manager type - think Trenton Bourguet, for example - than a big play waiting to happen, but Keene is steady and reliable. And, as such, he's been keeping pace with Boley in the quarterback competition all the way from spring ball to now.

Jake Fette lurks

Much of the focus is on the battle between Boley and Keene, and rightfully so, but in the words of Master Yoda "There is another."

Jake Fette is in his first year as a Sun Devil, enrolling early at Arizona State to be there for spring ball. The El Paso native committed to the Sun Devils back in September of 2024, when he was fairly under the radar still. As he wrapped up an impressive junior year, offers came in from programs like LSU and Ole Miss, yet Fette remained firm in his commitment.

Fette eventually rocketed up the recruiting rankings, finishing out as the 11th-ranked quarterback in the nation and a high 4-star. The general consensus is that Fette will spend this year learning the system and growing his body, using up a redshirt, before seriously contending for a starting job.

That said, Fette has been turning heads in practice. He's still raw, of course, but Fette's natural talent is quite evident. The future appears bright with him in Tempe, and nobody would be surprised to see at least some reps for him at some point this year.

Where things stand for now

Just a month ago, at the Big 12 Media Day, Dillingham declined to name a starter. He hinted that he would name the starter about a week out from the season opener, but that nobody had separated themselves yet.

As of right now, the odds-on favorite to start in Week 1 is Boley. As was the case with Leavitt - and Jaden Rashada before him - Dillingham prioritizes raw traits, upside, and big play potential in his quarterbacks.

Bourguet and Sims were both able to rack up numbers at various points in this offense, but both required considerably more structure and more assistance from the players around them. Leavitt, meanwhile, was capable of making off-script plays that elevated the team. And that's what Dillingham craves.

Boley has that in spades. The only thing that could keep him from being the starter is his penchant for turnovers. Boley has improved in that regard, per reports from practices, but he's still growing in that regard.

Keene is a much safer bet, but with a considerably lower ceiling. That makes him a more logical fit to start the season on the bench, though Dillingham knows he can go to Keene in an instant and prosper if Boley struggles.

Nothing is official, of course, but all indications at this stage are that Boley will be the first one out there against Morgan State.