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Kenny Dillingham clarifies view of how Cutter Boley handled demotion
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- Kenny Dillingham clarifies view of how Cutter Boley handled demotion
Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham has never been short on words. So when he issued a "no comment" twice during his weekly news conference on Monday, Oct. 26, when asked how starting quarterback Cutter Boley has responded to being benched, many were surprised. The response also left the topic ripe for speculation.
Boley started the first six games of the season but was benched at halftime of the game against Texas Tech on Oct. 17 in favor of his backup, veteran Mikey Keene, who then got the start against Kansas State on Oct. 24 at Mountain America Stadium.
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Keene went 10-for-20 for 160 yards before injuring his right leg late in the closing seconds of the second quarter.
Boley finished the half and was greeted by a loud chorus of boos from the home crowd as soon as he stepped onto the field. He played the first two series in the third quarter. The first ended with a sack, and the second ended with a three-and-out. The next time ASU got the ball, trailing 17-14, Dillingham called for freshman Jake Fette, who played the rest of the game.
There were clips on social media after the game that debunked the notion that Boley may have been sulking about the demotion. In fact, he was one of the first to celebrate the win with Fette afterward.
On Tuesday, Oct. 27, Dillingham wanted to clarify his earlier "no comment."
"Cutter's been awesome, by the way," he said. "I was referring to some other things in that context that he's having to deal with. He's a competitor. He's handling it as good as you can possibly handle it. He wants to be out there. Who wouldn't be out there? But he's the first guy to celebrate with Jake (Fette). The first guy to celebrate with Mikey (Keene).
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"He's still out there with everybody, every single day being competitive. Maybe I shouldn't have said it in that way. I just didn't want to get down a rabbit hole of conversations, but he's been an absolute pro when it comes to this, absolutely handling it as good as he could with a competitive spirit."
A day earlier, Dillingham had termed Keene "questionable" for this week's Big 12 showdown at No. 9 BYU (6-1, 3-1), which is coming off a 39-31 double-overtime upset by Central Florida.
Keene did practice, splitting first-team reps with Fette, but afterward, Dillingham said Keene's status had not changed.
Offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo doubled down on some of the things Dillingham said about Boley.
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"He's a human first and a player second," Arroyo said. "I think our ability to continue to put him in a situation to understand what's going on and how to work through the environment he lives in and works in, that's part of our job. I think he's done a great job."
Dillingham said he liked the way all of his quarterbacks looked in the most recent practice, and added he liked how all four, the other being sophomore Cam Dyer, have been working together.
"Today I think the quarterbacks did a nice job in there. I thought it was a positive day," he said.
Mack honored
ASU running back Cardae Mack was named Big 12 Freshman of the Week on Oct. 26. A day later came an even bigger accolade. The true freshman standout has been named the Shaun Alexander National Freshman of the Week for his showing in ASU's 28-17 victory over Kansas State.
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Mack finished with 26 carries for 159 yards and four touchdowns, accounting for all the Sun Devils' touchdowns. He became the first Sun Devils freshman to record four rushing touchdowns since Leon Burton had five on Oct. 1, 1955, against San Diego-Navy.
He is just the seventh FBS power conference running back in the past decade (since the start of 2016) to reach the four-rushing-touchdown milestone, joining Jadan Baugh (Florida, 2024), Evan Hull (Northwestern, 2019), Jermar Jefferson (Oregon State, 2x, 2018), AJ Dillon (Boston College, 2016), Damarea Crockett (Missouri, 2016), and Benny Snell Jr. (Kentucky, 2016). Only four of those other games came against another power conference team.
Mack now leads ASU in rushing with 400 yards on 55 tries (7.3 ypc).
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kenny Dillingham clarifies view of how Cutter Boley handled demotion
