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Arizona's Grant Gunnell is the highest-graded returning QB in the Pac-12, per Pro Football Focus.

 Josh Galemore / Arizona Daily Star

Editor’s note: Leading up to the start of Arizona football training camp on Friday, the Star will ask and answer five pressing questions about the Wildcats.

The Arizona Wildcats are scheduled to open training camp Friday. It will be a camp unlike any other leading into a season unlike any in our lifetimes.

The Wildcats are currently in their “ramp-up” phase after the Pac-12 gave the greenlight for the 2020 football season – after previously postponing it, putting the entire league in a state of limbo.

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Arizona Wildcats football head coach Kevin Sumlin tested positive for COVID-19, the school announced Monday. Sumlin has entered the isolation period as the team prepares to begin full team practices starting Friday.

We now know, assuming no COVID-related setbacks, that Arizona will open the campaign on Nov. 7 at Utah. We also know, barring something unforeseen, that sophomore Grant Gunnell will serve as the Wildcats’ starting quarterback in that game and many more to come.

The QB position is where we’ll start our countdown to camp – five pressing questions about the Wildcats over the next five days.

Question No. 1: What will it take for Grant Gunnell to build on his promising freshman season?

Kevin Sumlin and his staff did not intend to play Gunnell extensively last season. Khalil Tate entered the year as a returning, established starter. For the first three weeks of the season, Gunnell was listed third on the depth chart.

But stuff happened, and the plan changed. Tate got hurt at the end of the Sept. 14 game against Texas Tech. Gunnell started the following week against UCLA and passed for 352 yards and a touchdown in a 20-17 UA victory.

Tate returned the following week against Colorado and had the best passing game of his career. But significant struggles followed, and Gunnell’s playing time increased. For most of the rest of the season, he and Tate platooned. Arizona lost its final seven contests.

Gunnell appeared in eight games, starting three. He performed well for the most part. He finished the season with an exceptional 9-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a respectable 65.2% completion rate.

Gunnell drew praise from the analytics website Pro Football Focus, which grades NFL and FBS players. According to PFF, Gunnell is the highest-graded returning quarterback in the Pac-12 — a group that includes USC standout Kedon Slovis and Arizona State budding star Jayden Daniels.

In an August ranking of all the projected starting quarterbacks in FBS, PFF placed Gunnell at No. 13 and lauded his accuracy.

“Gunnell threw an accurate pass on 65.9% of his throws beyond the line of scrimmage,” author Anthony Treash wrote, “which would have ranked third in college football had he qualified.”

PFF also dubbed Gunnell “a breakout waiting to happen.”

Which doesn’t mean it automatically will. Gunnell will face some new and daunting challenges as a sophomore.

The biggest one is that he won’t catch anyone off guard this year. The platoon with Tate didn’t produce the bottom-line results the coaching staff was seeking, but it did force opponents to prepare for two quarterbacks with disparate styles and skill sets. Defensive coordinators now know what’s coming, for the most part, and it’ll be up to Gunnell and offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone to make those in-game adjustments.

Also, barring injury, Gunnell will be behind center from start to finish in these games. In some of his relief appearances last year, he benefited from opponents playing soft coverages in blowout situations.

Of course, playing under those circumstances – coming in cold off the bench, facing a large deficit, trying to uplift a beaten-down team – shouldn’t be construed as stress-free. The platoon system itself presented challenges. It was seldom clear from week to week who would do what when, or for how long. It couldn’t have been easy to establish a rhythm in that scenario.

Although Arizona’s defense could be a season-long issue — something we’ll address later this week — Gunnell shouldn’t feel as if he has to carry the team. Sumlin and Mazzone have assembled a talented supporting cast.

The UA lost receiver Brenden Schooler to transfer, but Gunnell should have plenty of perimeter options. They include another potential breakout candidate in Jamarye Joiner, steady slot receiver Brian Casteel and high-upside sophomores Boobie Curry and Jalen Johnson.

Gunnell attempted 44 passes in the UCLA game, one fewer than Tate’s career high (which came in a lopsided loss at Houston). That doesn’t mean Arizona will ignore the running game, especially with a deep stable of backs led by senior Gary Brightwell. In that game against the Bruins, tailback Bam Smith had five catches for a team-high 99 yards.

The return of junior Donovan Laie — who announced he was transferring last week before changing his mind — should help stabilize the offensive line. Gunnell isn’t as mobile as Tate but has shown good pocket awareness and the ability to shed pass rushers and reset his feet.

The transition from Tate to Gunnell represents a reset for the offense. Gunnell has a chance to become the face of the program. He isn’t there quite yet, but the early signs are encouraging.

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Contact sports reporter Michael Lev at 573-4148 or mlev@tucson.com. On Twitter @michaeljlev