Arizona Football

Former Texas A&M Class of 2019 QB commit pledges to Arizona


Houston St. Pius X senior quarterback Grant Gunnell is literally big in stature and that could pay huge dividends for the Arizona football program in future years.

Gunnell is a quality recruit, a 4-star rated quarterback by 247Sports, who stands at 6’6″ and 222 pounds.

He announced Wednesday that he is bound for Arizona after being a one-time Texas A&M commit when Kevin Sumlin coached there. Now that Sumlin is in Tucson, Gunnell wants to join Sumlin with the Wildcats.

Gunnell passed for 4,936 yards and 61 touchdowns with only six interceptions last year as a junior. That is not a misprint. He connected on 61 touchdown passes last season. He had even more (65) as a sophomore.

Gunnell was offered scholarships by many of the elite programs and took an official visit to Ohio State a week after visiting Arizona in April. He also took an unofficial visit to the Buckeyes’ campus in March. He also took an unofficial visit to Oregon.

LSU, Oklahoma State and UCLA were also hot on his trail.

As a sophomore, he passed for 4,973 yards with the 65 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions. A three-year starter, he has also rushed for 1,088 yards on 174 carries for 20 touchdowns. He has 142 career touchdown passes.

“Gunnell is a winner,” Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports writes. “He’s accurate and he obviously sees the field well. He has upside as a passer, and on game film shows the pocket presence, anticipation and marksmanship to all levels of the field. Gunnell is expected to call the plays as a senior, and shows on the prep level when he has a strong command of what’s asked of him he delivers.”

Gunnell, recruited primarily by Arizona offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone, is the fourth known player from the Class of 2019 to commit to the Wildcats. He is the third from Texas, a talent-rich state neglected by the previous staff of Rich Rodriguez during the recruiting process.

Dallas Bishop Dunne cornerback Logan Wilson and Houston Strake Jesuit running back Michael Wiley are the other commits from Texas. The other player who has pledged to Arizona in the Class of 2019 is punter Kyle Ostendorp of Phoenix Desert Vista.

GRANT GUNNELL STATS COURTESY MAXPREPS.COM


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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.

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