4 Aspects of Good, Bad of Cutter Boley
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It's a new era for Quarterback for the Sun Devils with Cutter Boley transfering from Kentucky. Boley brings a lot to the table, with pros and cons. So, what does Boley excel at and what does he need to work on?
Huge Positive: Extending the Play
When you look at the NFL, what is one thing that a lot of QBs do well? Extend the play with their feet by either scrambling themselves or throwing on the run. Looking at the current NFL Playoff teams, most every QB can do this, whether it be the Panthers's Bryce Young or the Seahawks's Sam Darnold, a lot of teams in the playoffs have QBS that can create.
This is something that Boley did a lot at Kentucky. He also only ran 66 times, meaning that he only ran about 20 percent of the time on dropbacks. Boley is a solid runner, he isn't blazing fast but he has good vision and acceleration. However the low percentage shows that Boley more so looks to throw instead of run when he does scramble.
This is a trait that Dillingham and ASU can really expand on at the next level. One thing that has been shown, whether it is Sam Leavitt or Jeff Sims, is that the Sun Devils like QBs that can extend on the play. A bunch of Sam Leavitt's best plays were doing excatly that, throwing on the run.
Huge Negative: Wobbly Throws
One thing that showed up a lot, in not a good way is that a lot of Boley's throws sometimes do not have the power that other QBS have. This happned in the Eastern Michigan game, a game in which Boley had two passing touchdowns and 240 yards, which is a great stat line. However, there were a lot of passes where the receivers who were running their routes had to come back to the ball instead of catching it in stride.
This might not seem like a huge deal, but in close games, especially in the Big 12, if a ball is behind a receiver, instead of forward, even by a yard, it could be crucial and cost ASU a game.
Huge Positive: Can make tight Window Throws
Sure, a play in which a defense abodsutley misses theri coverage on a QB has a receiver wide open is every QB's dream, however at college and especially at the NFL level that is just not the case. Windows get tigther and tighter, and QBs have to make more precise throws. An example, lock at San Francisco 49ers's Brock Purdy's great games against the Colts and Bears this year, Purdy had excellent games with many of those throws being extremely tight windows.
Thankfully for Sun Devil fans, Boley does a great job of this. This was shown in Boley's game against Georgia, where he had some fantastic throws in tight spaces. This should only improve with time and practicing from Boley.
Huge Negative: Turnovers
Boley had 12 interceptions to 15 touchdowns this year which is not a great ratio. Now, out of the positives and negatives mentioned, this is the one that could be fixed the most, as turnovers can be fixed with Quaterback play by good coaching and scheming. However, this is something that Boley does need to fix, even if the fix might be easy.
Overall, Boley has a lot to like. He has a high upside ceiling with a lot of great traits. It will be fun to see how he plays as a Sun Devil.
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Tanner Cappellini holds a mass communications degree from Arizona State University and is pursuing his dream of being the person at the games, practices, and events who takes others inside the team they love.