Armed and ready: Arizona QB Grant Gunnell is prepared for pressure, scrutiny coming his way

Pressure? Grant Gunnell welcomes it.

Not necessarily the in-your-face pressure from a blitzing linebacker. No quarterback likes that, including Arizona’s.

We’re talking about the pressure that comes with leading an offense and becoming the face of a program. It can be daunting, especially when that program has lost seven games in a row, has an embattled head coach and lacks depth and experience at key positions on defense.

Gunnell wouldn’t have it any other way.

“There’s always pressure when you’re playing football,” the sophomore said. “That’s not a bad thing to me. I see and feel pressure as something that drives me. If you’re not feeling pressure, those butterflies in your stomach, you don’t love football. You can ask anyone.”

Arizona is asking a lot of Gunnell. Although he has only three career starts, he is the undisputed starting quarterback for 2020 and beyond. He was tasked with keeping the team together when they couldn’t physically be together in the spring and summer. He represented the Wildcats during the virtual version of Pac-12 Media Days. Only two of the 12 players were sophomores: Gunnell and Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels.

UA players recently voted for team captains. Gunnell was the only sophomore to make the cut. The other four were fourth- or fifth-year veterans.

“He’s a natural-born leader,” Wildcats cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace said.

Although there’s still work to be done – Gunnell showed great promise as a freshman, but it’s a small sample size and he still has much to prove – the record-setting quarterback from Houston has toiled to reach this point. He’s the starting QB for a Power Five program, piloting an offense built around him.

“Grant has unbelievable passion for this game, and he wants to be really good at it,” said offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Noel Mazzone, who recruited Gunnell to Texas A&M before both made their way to Tucson. “This is something that he’s worked (for) basically his whole young life up to this point, to play major college football. It’s just very, very important to him.”

The offseason was bumpy for Gunnell and every college football player across America. The coronavirus pandemic halted spring practice. It disrupted summer workouts. It delayed the start of the season.

If anything, though, it only strengthened Gunnell’s resolve. He did everything he could to make himself better so the offense could perform and the team could win.

“Even with the unknowns of when we were going to play, or if we were going to play,” Mazzone said, “he never took a day off.”

Dogged determination

Pressure? Grant Gunnell is having a blast.

After months and months of Zoom meetings, at-home workouts, individual drills and socially distanced throwing sessions – all enjoyable and beneficial in their own ways – Gunnell again is doing what he loves most.

“Right now it’s the best time of my life, getting to go out there and go against the defense live, see how the offense is going, get through some growing pains,” Gunnell said. “There’s nothing better than playing football.”

Gunnell concedes he doesn’t have many other hobbies. One of them is bowling. Another illustrates his willingness to take on responsibility.

Gunnell has an 8-month-old English Labrador named Junior.

“He’s like a son to me,” said Gunnell, who turns 20 in late November.

Junior likes to chew things. Gunnell has lost several pairs of shoes and a pillow. Junior is apt to get in the trash.

“It’s definitely taught me a lot of patience,” Gunnell said. “He’s gotten some stuff he shouldn’t have. I love him, but he gets on my nerves.”

Those coping skills will come in handy when Arizona opens the season at Utah on Saturday. Even without fans in the stands, Gunnell and the Wildcats will face adversity at some point. Probably multiple points. He knows it will be up to him to steer the offense through those rough waters.

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“You’re going to have downs, you’re going to have lows,” Gunnell said. “You have to learn how to (rise) above them. You can’t let anyone else see you down, because the whole offense is gonna be down.”

The pandemic provided Gunnell with an unexpected training opportunity. Usually during the offseason, quarterbacks are in charge of organizing player-run practices. This offseason, Gunnell had to keep his teammates engaged and enthused when they were spread about the country. He’d send inspirational texts, quoting movies and his quarterbacking role model, Tom Brady.

“Because you’re not seeing them every day, you’ve got to put forth that effort to … communicate with your teammates,” veteran center Josh McCauley said. “It builds a stronger bond.”

Players and coaches commonly praise quarterbacks for their leadership ability, whether it’s real or not. In Gunnell’s case, his actions speak louder than those words.

When offensive lineman Donovan Laie announced his intent to transfer in late September, Gunnell led the recruitment effort to bring him back, calling Laie multiple times and having dinner with him. Laie changed his mind the next day.

When the Wildcats followed the lead of their USC brethren and penned a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom seeking aid to get the Pac-12 season going, Gunnell worked with UA Chief of Staff Dennis Polian to craft the message. Gunnell then posted it on his Twitter feed.

“He’s very loyal,” Mazzone said. “Relationships are important to him. His teammates are important to him. He’s a really team-oriented guy.

“He has a lot of the qualities that they don’t measure at the (scouting) combine. They can measure how high you jump, how fast you are, how far you can throw it. Those are good to have, and a lot of times you need those. But those don’t guarantee you’re going to be successful.

“If you look back at most successful quarterbacks, they have a lot of the traits that you can’t measure. Grant has those things.”

Greater expectations

Pressure? Grant Gunnell knows it’s coming.

Although he prepared as if he were the starter last season, Gunnell is the starter now. That changes everyone’s expectations.

They were minimal when Gunnell made his first career start against UCLA, subbing for the injured Khalil Tate. Gunnell exceeded them by passing for 352 yards and a touchdown in a 20-17 victory over the Bruins.

Gunnell started the Oregon and Utah games late in the season. No one blamed him for those defeats, even though Arizona scored only 13 total points.

Those were two of several games in which Gunnell shared time with Tate. Sometimes the contests were close when Gunnell entered; sometimes they already were out of reach.

Gunnell finished with sterling numbers: a 9-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, a 65.2% completion rate and a 150.18 efficiency rating. The latter two are top-five marks in UA history.

However, as Gunnell himself noted, “I was the backup. I didn’t have as much pressure on me.”

Now, as the face of the program, every pass he throws and every decision he makes will be scrutinized.

Gunnell’s teammates believe he’s ready for that role.

“Last year he was going back and forth with Khalil, coming in and out,” receiver Jamarye Joiner said. “This year it’s really his offense. He’s taken leadership and ownership of everything that’s going on.

“He’s really taking charge … and that’s what we need in order to win these games.”