Kentucky has went the transfer portal route to find their starting quarterback over the last several seasons, bringing in Will Levis, Devin Leary, and most recently, Brock Vandagriff. This season looks to be more of the same as the staff has just received a commitment from quarterback transfer, Zach Calzada.
Calzada will be the fifth transfer quarterback for Kentucky since the 2018 season.
The 2025 season will be his seventh and final season of eligibility during his collegiate career. Calzada has had stops at three schools before committing to Kentucky, two of those were within the SEC.
Zach was a part of the 2019 class where he started his career with Texas A&M, however, he did not see much playing time until the 2021 season with the Aggies. This was due to then starting quarterback, Haynes King, getting injured. Calzada managed to lead the Aggies to a 8-4 season under head coach, Jimbo Fisher.
The game that most college football fans might remember was in 2021 when the Aggies managed to upset No. 1 Alabama. Clazada managed to throw for 285 yards and 3 touchdowns in that impressive win over the Crimson Tide. After the 2021 season, Calzada made the move to Auburn in hopes for a starting role with the Tigers. Ultimately, due to unfortunate injuries, this sidelined Calzada for the season.
In 2023 the talented quarterback took his talents to the FCS level where he secured the starting quarterback role at Incarnate Word. In his two seasons with the Cardinals, Calzada led them to a combined 20-5 record. He would wrack up over 6,300 passing yards and 54 touchdowns during his time there.
Earlier in this week it was looking like Kentucky was zoning in on Duke transfer, Maalik Murphy. It was reported that Murphy did in fact take a visit to the University of Kentucky but clearly a deal did not get made between the transfer and the Kentucky coaching staff. However, Mark Stoops must have felt like he needed to go out and get another experienced quarterback for the 2025 season to go along with who is already here. This is probably the safest move since both Cutter Boley and Stone Saunders will be true freshmen next season.
It is uncertain how this will all play out, though. Maybe this will give both Boley and Saunders another year to learn and develop under a proven and experienced quarterback. Alternatively, the two true freshmen might find another reason to compete for that second spot. They may battle for the starting role for the Wildcats in the following season, assuming Zach Calzada locks up this one.
Only time will tell but it is good to see Stoops and the staff aggressively attacking the transfer portal in hopes to have major changes next year.
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