The status of Arizona quarterback Grant Gunnell remained unclear Monday afternoon when Wildcats coach Kevin Sumlin addressed the media ahead of the Territorial Cup.
Gunnell hurt his shoulder on the first play of the UCLA game on Nov. 28. He did not return and sat out last week’s loss against Colorado.
Gunnell could be seen stretching and working with a trainer during pregame warmups, but he did not throw any passes.
The Wildcats practiced Sunday evening. Their latest meeting with rival Arizona State kicks off Friday, so the team — and Gunnell — will have one fewer day to get ready.
Asked if he had an update on Gunnell, Sumlin said: “Not yet. We’ll probably know a little bit more today and tomorrow, let’s just put it that way. He didn’t do anything last week. So we’re going to defer to our medical team and see where he is later on in the week.”
Sumlin added that Gunnell would need to practice in order to play.
After starting three games as a freshman last year, Gunnell took over the No. 1 job in spring. In two-plus games, he has completed 52 of 76 passes (68.4%) for 547 yards with six touchdowns and one interception.
Freshman Will Plummer took Gunnell’s place, and his inexperience has shown at times. Plummer has completed 36 of 67 passes (53.7%) for 305 yards with no touchdowns and three picks. He also has rushed for 78 yards.
Sumlin said he didn’t consider removing Plummer during the Colorado game because “I thought our issues were not related to the quarterback position. ... We had issues in protection. I thought that Will’s ability to use his legs, it got us out of some things.”
Redshirt junior Rhett Rodriguez was Plummer’s primary backup against the Buffaloes. Redshirt sophomore Kevin Doyle was the other scholarship quarterback who dressed.
Kevin Sumlin held his weekly press conference on Monday as the Arizona Wildcats prepare to face rival Arizona State on Friday. Sumlin addressed the status of quarterback Grant Gunnell (shoulder), who missed last week's loss to Colorado. Sumlin also highlighted his experience in the Territorial Cup rivalry, and how this game stands apart without fans in attedance.
Doyle, a three-star recruit who at one time was committed to Michigan, has yet to appear in a game for the Wildcats. Doyle hurt his shoulder last summer and didn’t have the benefit of a full spring practice this year. But then, neither did Plummer.
Asked why Doyle hasn’t moved up the depth chart, Sumlin said: “We’re in practice all the time. Everybody has an opportunity during practice to prove to the other players and to coaches that you’re going to be able to perform. It’s not just a guess or just pick a guy.
“Throughout preseason practice, Will moved up the chart by doing the things that he’s done. Those spots are earned and not given away.
“They’re evaluated in practice, and there’s a lot of things that go into that. Those evaluations are daily ... and I think you see a number of guys on this team moving up and down the depth chart right now, because (we’re) trying to get the best people on the field.
“There’s no agenda. Our agenda is to win. And as I’ve told other guys on the football team ... we’re gonna put the guys out there that give us the best chance to win, based on their day-to-day performance in practice.”
Neither the Wildcats nor Sun Devils have won a game this season. Arizona is 0-4 and seeking to end a school-record 11-game losing streak. ASU, which couldn’t play for three weeks because of COVID-19 issues, is 0-2. The Sun Devils have won the past three meetings for the Territorial Cup.
Cecil speaks
Sumlin is bringing in guest speakers this week to talk to the Wildcats about the Territorial Cup rivalry. The first speaker was former UA safety Chuck Cecil, who is currently a senior defensive analyst for the program.
“Obviously, he’s a very passionate person, and emotional,” Sumlin said. “I thought it was a great way to kick off the week.”
Cecil, who served as Arizona’s interim defensive coordinator for the final four games of 2019, made arguably the greatest play in school history: a 106-yard interception return for a touchdown against ASU in 1986.
Sumlin said Cecil alluded to players being “kidnapped” one year as part of the rivalry shenanigans.
“I don’t know if that’s true or not,” Sumlin said. “He might have just been getting them fired up.”
Dwindling numbers
Fox Sports reported Saturday that Arizona had only 55 available scholarship players for the Colorado game. The Pac-12 threshold for playing is 53 during the pandemic.
Reduced rosters have been common in college football this year because of COVID-19 and contact tracing. The Wildcats have had several players opt out. They also were missing several because of injuries vs. the Buffaloes, including Gunnell, receiver Tayvian Cunningham, tackle Jordan Morgan, linebacker Jalen Harris and safety Jarrius Wallace. All watched the game from the sideline.
“That is a situation that a lot of people are dealing with,” Sumlin said. “Those numbers got out. It’s day to day, and it’s week to week.
“You’ve seen it for a lot of different programs across the country and different games that have (been) played without people, from the No. 1 team in the country to everybody else.
“You’ve got the combination of COVID ... injury, just a number of different things, and to be able to play the games is really important. Our guys understand that. But those numbers have fluctuated.”
Arizona used 44 players against Colorado, according to the postgame participation chart.
Extra points
- Sumlin singled out three players when asked about the Sun Devils: quarterback Jayden Daniels, safety Evan Fields and linebacker Merlin Robertson. Daniels rushed for 111 yards in ASU’s opener vs. USC and passed for 225 last week vs. UCLA. Fields is averaging 11 tackles per game, third most in the Pac-12. Robertson is averaging 8.5.
- ASU coach Herm Edwards, after the UCLA game, on the impact COVID-19 has had on his team: “When this thing first started for us, and players and coaches were getting tested, you always hope for a thumbs-up that everyone will make it through, so that’s constantly on your mind. That’s just part of the environment we live in right now. But after that, you can’t worry about it. You continue to press on and hope that it doesn’t get you like it got us — and it got us. But we recovered from it for the most part. I think we were rusty as a football team, and I had a sense that would happen, not playing in a month. We had to figure out the speed of the game, but I thought we got into it and we were just playing football.”
- Arizona nose tackle Roy Lopez is the top-graded interior defensive lineman in the Pac-12, according to Pro Football Focus. A graduate transfer from New Mexico State, Lopez has 16 tackles, including three stops for losses (one sack).
