Anu Solomon was in the midst of a seemingly serious conversation about his father and his father figure, Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez. The redshirt junior was asked which of them was a harsher critic.
“They both tell me the truth,” Solomon said. “They don’t sugarcoat things. Let’s not forget …”
Just then, teammate and roommate Cody Ippolito happened by.
“… Cody is wearing a size-44 jersey.”
And there you have it, Solomon’s quirky, seldom-serious personality in a nutshell — or perhaps a coconut shell.
“He is the stereotypical Hawaiian to me,” Ippolito said. “He’s laid-back, chill, doesn’t say much. He’s just relaxed. Just a fun kid to be around.”
Teammates and coaches describe Solomon as a quiet, easygoing, unselfish jokester. “The funniest kid on the team for sure,” veteran guard Jacob Alsadek said.
Those aren’t adjectives typically associated with a quarterback. But they’re all part of what makes Solomon who he is. He seldom gets stressed, even when someone is coming after his job.
Solomon is battling buddy Brandon Dawkins. Less than a week away from the season opener, Rodriguez hasn’t publicly named a starter.
Unlike the outgoing Dawkins, Solomon doesn’t appear to have the alpha-dog traits we’ve come to expect in a quarterback. But they don’t all come in the same package. They don’t all lead in the same manner.
“His leading is through example,” Ippolito said of Solomon, his roommate for three years and counting. “The way he plays, the way he keeps calm, the way he doesn’t let things get to him. Everyone’s like, ‘Anu’s calm, so I’ll be calm.’
“He doesn’t have to talk about it. He doesn’t have to scream about it. He doesn’t have to tell people what to do. People just follow him naturally because of his work ethic and just because of the way he is and the way he plays.”
Alsadek, who plays on Solomon’s side of the ball, corroborates Ippolito’s account. Solomon has the ability, as the Smashing Pumpkins once sang, to “disarm you with a smile.”
“Even in games, if you mess up, Anu will just be like, ‘Come on man! Let’s go!” with this weird look on his face,” Alsadek said. “That’s just who he is.”
Alsadek didn’t know what to make of Solomon when he first met him. Alsadek came away thinking, “This kid is literally the weirdest kid I’ve ever met in my life.”
And now? “You understand who he is and the way he is,” Alsadek said.
It took quarterbacks coach Rod Smith a while to decode Solomon as well. When he first started working with him, Smith wasn’t sure how much Solomon cared about football.
“The more you get to know him, the more you’re around him, the more you understand he does care. He cares a lot,” Smith said. “Everybody’s got different personalities. It’s our job to figure them out and learn how to push those buttons.”
Solomon had his own adjustments to make when he moved to the mainland. Solomon grew up in Kalihi, Hawaii, a crime-plagued neighborhood in Honolulu. His family moved to Las Vegas when Anu was 10.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” he said.
Solomon rarely had seen people who looked different from him. He couldn’t understand why mainlanders microwaved their Top Ramen rather than cooking it atop the stove with Spam and eggs.
Solomon found focus in football. He became a four-year starter and four-time state champion at Las Vegas’ Bishop Gorman High.
After redshirting as a freshman at Arizona in 2013, Solomon won the quarterback job the following season and helped the Wildcats achieve a 10-4 record.
Neither Arizona nor Solomon fared as well last season, when injuries struck him and countless teammates. The Wildcats fell to 7-6.
In spring, Rodriguez opened the quarterback competition. Despite having 25 starts and 48 touchdown passes on his résumé, Solomon was neither surprised nor offended.
“It’s been a quarterback competition for the last four years,” he said. “I’m not going to change anything.”
Solomon is still a prankster. When Smith took the quarterbacks out for dinner recently at Mr. An’s, they told the restaurant that it was their coach’s birthday. It wasn’t.
“One time he duct-taped my seat,” Ippolito disclosed. His toilet seat, that is.
To say Solomon hasn’t changed at all would be inaccurate. No one leaves college the same as when they arrived.
Rodriguez has noticed Solomon becoming more assertive.
“I don’t know if he has to be a different personality; I don’t want him to be a different person,” Rodriguez said. “But he’s got to be more vocal at times in communication. And I’ve seen that in camp.”
Smith said that’s part of the natural progression for anyone who has played and experienced success. Solomon understands Arizona’s offensive system; when he gets his turn, he’s in control. When Solomon talks, he knows what he’s talking about.
“The players sense that,” Smith said. “When you’ve been in the live bullets as much as he has, his words are going to mean something.”
Solomon isn’t shy about sharing his wisdom with his fellow quarterbacks — even though they’re vying for his spot. He considers the alternative selfish.
Solomon is the oldest of seven children. If he came home with lunch for himself — but no one else — he’d get punished.
“It’s a bad idea,” Solomon said. “Bad idea.”
So whenever and however he can, Solomon helps freshman Khalil Tate, redshirt sophomore Zach Werlinger and even Dawkins, his direct competition. It isn’t necessarily what’s best for Solomon. But it’s what’s best for the team.
It’s also the ultimate sign of the self-assurance that Solomon’s introverted nature belies.
“It all goes back to believing in yourself,” Smith said. “He knows what he can do. He’s got the confidence he can do that and still go compete against anybody.”
