Following a disappointing 4-8 season Mark Stoops and the Kentucky coaching staff needed to rebuild. In college football these days if you don’t get immediately better using the transfer portal you’re behind the eight ball starting the new season. The Wildcats had 23 players leave the program since the end of the season. On the flip side, they’ve brought in 19 newcomers. Over the next few weeks, we’ll go position by position looking at who’s in Lexington. Where else to start but the marquee position with our Kentucky post-portal depth chart quarterbacks.
Kentucky Post-Portal Depth Chart-Quarterbacks
An Almost Entirely New Room and A New SEC Home
As the title suggests offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan has a bunch of new faces for 2025. Last year’s starter Brock Vandagriff surprisingly retired from football. In addition, Gavin Wimsatt transferred to Jacksonville State. As a result, Stoops and Hamdan looked for an experienced signal caller. You won’t find any more experienced than Zach Calzada.
The well-traveled signal caller ranks as the 18th-best quarterback in the portal. Kentucky was his third stop in the SEC during his college career. Calzada originally signed with Texas A&M way back in 2019. During the 2021 season, Calzada started 10 games. His biggest win came in a triumph over Alabama.
He transferred to Auburn in 2022. However, he had shoulder surgery and never played for the Tigers. The next year he was on the move again, this time moving to FCS Incarnate Word. That’s the same school that produced Cam Ward.
2024 was a banner season for Calzada. Named Southland Conference Player Of The Year he threw for 3,751 yards, 35 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. His yards and touchdowns ranked fifth and second respectively in FCS. He’ll have every opportunity to gain the starting role at Kentucky.
Continuing on with our Kentucky post-portal depth chart-quarterbacks let’s look at the one returning player on the roster.
Battling For The Starter’s Role
Following the Cats’ season-ending loss to Louisville Stoops and Hamdan stated Cutter Boley was the starter heading into 2025. However, with the addition of Calzada is looks like the hometown hero will be your number-two signal caller.
Appearing in four games the Lexington Christian Academy star completed 26 of 49 passes for 338 yards and two touchdowns. However, he did have four interceptions. His best game came against FCS squad Murray State where he threw for 130 yards and two scores. In addition, he looked pretty good in the loss to Texas. Playing against one of the best defenses in college football, Boley threw for 160 yards with one pick.
Continuing on with our Kentucky Post-Portal Depth Chart: Quarterbacks, let’s look at a couple of newcomers to the Wildcat lineup.
Pushing For Playing Time
We’ve talked a lot about Stone Saunders ever since he committed to Kentucky back on August 4, 2023. To put it in perspective Liam Coen was still the Cats’ offensive coordinator. That was before he left for Tampa Bay and is now the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach.
Saunders hails from Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Rated as the 45th-best quarterback in the nation and 17th-best player in the Keystone State. He owns the state’s all-time record for passing touchdowns with 204. Saunders was named Pennsylvania High School Player of the Year. He held offers from a who’s who of college football including Colorado, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, and Texas A&M. However he’s remained committed to the Cats.
The second of the incoming quarterbacks is Brennen Ward. Hailing from Columbus, Ohio’s Gahanna Lincoln High School Ward ranks as the 43rd-best player in the Buckeye State and 61st-best quarterback in the nation. In 2024 he threw for 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns but missed part of the year due to a knee injury. Even though Ward didn’t play a full season he still was named first-team all-league.
Final Thoughts
Calzada brings a wealth of SEC experience with him as he starts his seventh year of college football. As we mentioned earlier he will be given every opportunity to earn the starting quarterback job. Boley is your QB2 with Saunders and Ward fighting for the third spot.
Thanks for checking out our Kentucky post-portal depth chart quarterbacks here at Last Word On College Football. Next time we’ll look at the running backs.
Main Photo: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images
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