Seven Wildcats, including QB Grant Gunnell and RB Gary Brightwell, make PFF preseason All-Pac-12 teams

It is possible that the 2020 Arizona Wildcats would have been better than most analysts projected?

We’ll never know for certain after the Pac-12 Conference postponed the fall season because of the coronavirus pandemic. Even if a winter/spring season happens, the rosters and participation won’t be the same as they would have been.

But a preseason all-conference team from a highly respected outlet features several Wildcats, suggesting the roster might contain a decent amount of quality talent after all.

Seven current UA players made Pro Football Focus’ All-Pac-12 team, revealed late last week. The numbers jumps to eight if you include linebacker Colin Schooler, who recently entered the NCAA transfer portal in an attempt to play elsewhere this fall. All the players were named to the second or third teams or honorable mention.

Besides Schooler, the second-team selections by PFF were sophomore quarterback Grant Gunnell and senior running back Gary Brightwell.

Gunnell completed 65.2% of his passes with a 9-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio as a freshman. Brightwell has rushed for 915 yards and eight touchdowns with a 5.8-yard average over the past two seasons.

Center Josh McCauley and cornerbacks Lorenzo Burns and Christian Roland-Wallace were named to PFF’s third team.

McCauley, a fifth-year senior, has started 22 games over the past two seasons. The former walk-on earned a scholarship in the process.

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Burns, another fifth-year senior, notched team highs with four interceptions and seven passes defensed last season. Burns has nine picks and 34 passes defensed over the past three seasons.

Roland-Wallace played in 12 games as a freshman last year, including eight starts. He recorded 37 tackles, six passes defensed and one interception.

Receiver Jamarye Joiner and offensive lineman Robert Congel earned honorable-mention recognition.

Joiner, a redshirt sophomore, showed great promise in his first season as a wideout, catching 34 passes for 552 yards and five touchdowns.

Congel, a redshirt junior, started eight games last season, including seven at left guard. It was the first year he was eligible to play at Arizona after transferring from Texas A&M.

To put PFF’s projections in some perspective, Arizona placed five players on Athlon Sports’ preseason All-Pac-12 teams, which went four units deep. No Wildcats made Athlon’s first or second teams.

Four of the five players (Joiner, McCauley, Burns and offensive lineman Donovan Laie) were named to the fourth team. Schooler – who, again, is no longer with the program – made the third team.