A Look Back: Grant Gunnell's debut
First and foremost, the Cats got the win. Although it was not a pretty win, and UCLA is not a good team, it was a win in Pac-12 debut start. By way of comparison since 2003 six true or redshirt freshmen started a Pac-12 game and only one won in his debut. That player was Anu Solomon is the “Hill Mary” game. Kris Heavner, Richard Kovalcheck, Willie Tuitama and Khalil Tate all lost their first start against Pac-12 teams.
Officially, Gunnell was 29-44 for 352 and a touchdown. However, at lease four of those completions came on fly sweeps, which are essentially runs and 65 of those passing yards came on two early fly sweeps and an underneath throw as time expired in the first half that picked up 34 yards.
On a positive note, Gunnell was 8-8 for 81 yards in the fourth quarter. In two drives during the final tilt, Gunnell led the Wildcats to a touchdown and had a second score called back on a replay that showed the receiver caught the ball with his knee on the ground. Gunnell did take a big sack when trying to run out the clock, but the initial view of the play made it look like the pocket collapsed too fast for Gunnell to get the ball away.
Despite throwing the ball 44 times, the Wildcats did not ask Gunnell to do too much. He only went deep a few times and the Wildcats were conservative on several third and long calls.
What I liked:
Gunnell seemed to have a good grasp of the offense, especially when it came down to making his progressions and checking down. Although there were a few occasions where Gunnell locked into a receiver, for the most part he seemed to survey the whole field.
While you can argue that he did not always make the right read, he rarely made a bad read. Gunnell did not throw dangerous balls and practiced very good ball safety. He did not throw an interception and was never in jeopardy of throwing one.
Gunnell made a few great throws, most notably a couple of tosses to running back Bam Smith, including a 75-yarder on a wheel route.
He showed a solid pocket presence. He stepped up in the pocket on several occasions and was patient to allow some slower developing routes to open up.
Despite throwing some bad balls, he completed 66% (technically 65.9%) of his passes. By way of comparison, Khalil Tate has completed more than 66% of his passes six times, but only once in games where he threw 20 or more passes.
What I didn’t like:
Gunnell does not have a strong arm. In person he does not look to have a ton of zip on the ball and did not take any real deep shots. I am less concerned about the deep ball than I am his ability to hit out patterns and back shoulder throws.
He missed some open throws, most notably two shots to the corner of the endzone. Neither were easy passes, but both were scores. The first of the two was a better opportunity, but better throws on either play results in a score.
Maybe most worrisome was the fact that they scored just 20 points against a mediocre UCLA defense. Granted it should have been 23 points had the Cats not missed a field goal, but even 23 points would have tied them with San Diego State for fewest scored against the Bruins. SDSU is not a good offensive team having scored just 6 points against Weber State and averaging just over 19 points a game this season. The 20 points is the fewest the Wildcats have scored in a win since beating Cal 10-9 in 2010.
Overall:
It was a good, maybe even a very good debut for a true freshman. While there is a lot to improve, there is probably more to build on. While I am not blown away by his arm strength, he never looked out of place or overmatched. He has a decent grasp of the offense and rarely put the offense in a bad position. He may not have put his stamp on the position for years to come, in fact I would start Tate when he is healthy, but he does make you think the Cats have at least one viable option for the future.
