There was the jump from high school to college that all players face when he first enrolled at Texas A&M. After three years there, Calzada faced another transition when he transferred to SEC rival Auburn. A year at Auburn, which was complicated by a shoulder injury that eventually required surgery and prevented him from playing in any games, was followed by a transfer to FCS Incarnate Word.
After two seasons at Incarnate Word, Calzada now faces his fourth and final college transition after transferring to Kentucky in January.
“Every new place is going to be different, but I think coming here, it was a pleasant surprise just to see the morale and the mentality of the team,” Calzada said after a recent spring practice. “Everybody comes in, goes to work every single day, and it’s been fantastic.
“… Every place is different, and you never know what to expect. Sometimes you go places, and some guys work one way and some guys work another. But here I just feel really good about the whole group, the group as a whole just coming to work every day, the willingness to get better and take the steps that we need to take.”
You will notice there are few specifics in that answer about the latest transition in Calzada’s college career, and that seems to be by design.
By now, Calzada is well aware of the challenges that come with integrating into a new locker room. Not rocking the boat while you work to earn the respect of your new teammates is almost always a sound strategy in easing that transition.
It has therefore been difficult to learn much about how Calzada has performed in his first dozen practices for Kentucky.
“Every practice is so important for him,” offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said. “This is a guy that has played a lot of football, but it’s still a new system, and in a year one setting. I always like to see quarterbacks that are continuing to improve, and I think he has done a really nice job of that.”
While neither Calzada nor Kentucky coaches have bit on questions about UK’s quarterback plan for 2025 this spring, it is clear that Calzada was not going to pick a school for his seventh and final college season where he did not think he had the inside track to start. The presence of redshirt freshman Cutter Boley, who UK coaches have repeatedly described as the quarterback of the future, on the roster at least adds some intrigue to the position, but it would be a shock if Calzada is not the starter for Kentucky’s opener against Toledo in August.
How Calzada will fare in a rebuilt offense that could feature as many as eight transfer starters is far less certain.
During the one practice open to reporters before Saturday’s public showcase practice, Calzada frequently connected with Alabama slot receiver transfer Kendrick Law but had not quite perfected the timing with his receivers on deep throws on a windy morning. His rushing ability was difficult to gauge with quarterbacks held from contact in practice, but he appeared to be a willing runner when plays broke down.
“I think he’s one of those guys that he surprises you with his athleticism,” Hamdan said. “Naturally, he’s got a big arm. For him, it’s going to be the accuracy and taking a little bit off of it at times to throw a catchable ball.
“He’s a big, strong, physical kid. He likes making big plays. As we know, it’s always going to come down to decision making and accuracy, and that’s what we’re striving for him to do.”
If Calzada were a sure thing as a difference maker at the SEC level, he probably would be preparing for the NFL draft right now rather than a final college season during which he will turn 25 years old.
But Kentucky does not need Calzada to be a star if the rest of the offensive transfers click. No one should realistically expect Calzada to duplicate his 2024 numbers from Incarnate Word’s spread attack (3,791 passing yards, 332 rushing yards and 40 total touchdowns) in a pro-style offense against SEC competition, but if he could at least improve his numbers from his last season in the SEC in 2021 at Texas A&M (2,185 yards, 17 touchdowns, nine interceptions) that would be a boost for Kentucky.
Boley might still have the higher ceiling for quarterback production in 2025, but there was never a scenario where Kentucky could assume a second-year quarterback who did not lead a single scoring drive against Power Four competition in three games last season would be ready to start this fall. Finding a veteran in the transfer portal was essential after Brock Vandagriff retired and backup Gavin Wimsatt transferred.
There will be few quarterbacks in college football that can compete with Calzada’s experience. Saturday’s public practice was to offer one more glimpse at his early acclimation process at Kentucky, but it was unlikely to reveal much that would silence any lingering doubts about how he will play this fall.
Kentucky coaches and players appear OK with prolonging that mystery.
“Now it’s a matter of getting comfortable in our system, putting it all together,” UK coach Mark Stoops said. “Through spring, there’s some things that look sloppy, that look ugly at times. Then we got to just pull it all together. And so both (quarterbacks) have made a lot of growth.”