It appeared to be Cutter Boley's quarterback job to lose as the Arizona State football team heads into fall camp. But is it?
ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham met with the media on July 29, ahead of the first fall practice scheduled for Aug. 5. He was asked about the position, which features one returner, two Division I transfers and a promising true freshman. The national publications already on newsstands have Boley, a transfer from Kentucky, pegged as the starter, as has much of the media that witnessed spring drills in April.
But Dillingham, heading in his fourth year at the helm of the program, made it clear that there is still a battle at that position. With so many starters having departed from a team that went 8-5, there are plenty of other
position battles as well.
"I think it's going to be a good competition. I saw ups and downs from the younger guys," he said. "(Michigan transfer) Mikey (Keene) was Mr. Consistency throughout camp, and that's kind of what we wanted to bring in. We wanted to bring in some combinations of high ceilings with consistency with veteran leadership from them. So I think we've got a good natural competition going into camp."
The Sun Devils are beginning fall camp a week later than in recent years because they do not have a Week 0 game.
The annual trek to Camp Tontozona is scheduled for Aug. 11-15.
The season opens on Sept. 5 against FCS opponent Morgan State at Mountain America Stadium. The Sun Devils will have just one off week, that coming after the Big 12 game on Sept. 19 against Kansas at London's Wembley Stadium. They will then play nine straight weeks, not an ideal scenario.
Joining Boley and Keene, a product of Chandler High School, in the battle are redshirt sophomore Cam Dyer, the only returner but one who saw no game action, as well as true freshman Jake Fette, a native of El Paso, who prepped with the team ahead of its Sun Bowl outing in December.
Dillingham has a timeline for naming a starter and said it would be before the team starts preparation for the Bears. It will likely be 9-10 days before the game — ideally, Dillingham would make the announcement earlier.
"I don't believe in a quarterback competition going into Week 1," he said. "I want to know who it is and our guys need to know we have a plan and believe in something. If somebody separates themselves earlier, home run. And if they separate themselves earlier? You guys come to practice, everybody's going to know it. It's going to be very clear. That would be the dream scenario."
"The worst thing as a coach, you have to make a decision, and it's not clear because it makes it more challenging."
In the past few weeks, video has surfaced on social media of Boley working out with former Sun Devil quarterback Taylor Kelly, who was in Tempe from 2010 to 2014, winning 10 games as a senior in 2014, a year there was also a battle for the starting spot.
Kelly was on staff the next season as a graduate assistant, along with Dillingham, who was starting his career on Todd Graham's staff. So he knows Kelly well.
Dillingham has a great appreciation for Kelly and thinks his quarterback can learn from the past one.
"He won a lot of games. And the players loved him," Dillingham said of Kelly. "Always got tasks done. A winner. So for me, when seeing our guys work out with a former player who found ways to win, underrecruited. People didn't think he was going to win the quarterback battle when he was battling. He was the sneaky guy that showed up out of nowhere. Then he wins 10 games. He's a winner. And you want your guys to be surrounded by guys that have habits of winners."
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kenny Dillingham expects QB battle at Arizona State
