According to Babylonian and Sumerian mythology, “Anu” is a “sky god,” the god of heaven and lord of constellation. Or something like that.
Late Thursday, Anu Solomon walked into an empty storage room at the Alamodome and said he was “a little bit bumped up,” but otherwise in working order and undefeated in two college starts.
He is no football god, not yet; the journey has just begun for the 20-year-old quarterback whose given name is Jarrett Pekelo Kahanuolaokalani Solomon.
Anu went by Jarrett until he was a sophomore at Las Vegas Bishop Gorman High School, but that’s his father’s name, and in 1993 Jarrett Solomon built a strong identity as an All-Hawaiian linebacker at Farrington High School on Honolulu.
So the quarterback chose Anu, somewhat because his six younger siblings and extended family had difficulty pronouncing Kahanuolaokalani. (No kidding).
Whether he makes a name for himself as Arizona’s starting quarterback will be decided in the next 10 games, all of them more difficult than the first two. Solomon has completed 55.3 percent of his passes, and that must improve.
Every starting QB at Arizona dating to 2007 has completed more than 60 percent of his passes. A year ago, B.J. Denker was at exactly 50 percent after two games. After that, he was almost cosmic (almost a sky god), completing .681 percent in the final 11 games.
It’s not like Solomon arrived as an under-the-radar prospect. He committed to Rich Rodriguez in late May 2012, but in January 2013, in one of his final acts as Oregon’s head coach, Chip Kelly asked Solomon to reconsider, inviting him to visit the Ducks.
Solomon declined, and rather than fly to Oregon took a visit to UA on Jan. 24, 2013. The first time I saw him he was sitting in the Zona Zoo, watching as Arizona was shocked 84-73 by a UCLA basketball squad with Solomon’s Bishop Gorman classmate, Shabazz Muhammad.
My reaction was that Solomon didn’t look the part. He’s not imposing physically. He doesn’t have breakaway speed. But if Chip Kelly and Rich Rodriguez are calling you, he must be a winner.
Solomon has taken a mere 151 snaps in his brief college career. If he stays upright, he will soon be challenged by some of college football’s top defensive strategists, including USC’s Justin Wilcox, UCLA’s Jim Mora and ASU’s Todd Graham, and players faster, stronger and more talented than those at UNLV and UTSA.
He’s going to need a little help from the football gods to survive what lies ahead.
