Spring Preview: Taking a look at the Quarterback’s for Arizona Football

As we begin Spring practices for Arizona Football, we are bringing the first series in our Spring Preview, starting at QB!

Football is just around the corner, and as we get prepared for the Spring Practices, we bring our first Spring Preview, beginning by taking a look at the quarterback position!

Probably the most talked about position for the Wildcats seemingly every Spring, this will be no different this year, as eyes will be on the Senior-to-be Khalil Tate, and the bevy of talented youngsters.

Arizona Wildcats

Will Tate be unseated, will he transfer? Please ignore the click-baity headlines, but nonetheless, these will be the major talking points for some when reading the Arizona Spring previews elsewhere.

As it stands, the Wildcats will return Tate for his senior season, Jamarye Joiner and Kevin Doyle as “sophomores”, and Rhett Rodriguez will be a junior.

Currently gaining a lot of the hype and attention though, is true freshman, Grant Gunnell. The big quarterback from the Lone Star state with a Texas-sized arm, who came to Arizona a semester early and now is looking to make his impact felt quickly.

However, lost in all the Arizona quarterback chatter is Tate. The once star and Heisman hopeful, essentially thrown to the wayside. But, despite all the attention (negative and positive) regarding him last year, he still performed fairly well in his first season with offensive coordinator, Noel Mazzone.

Although he may not have been the same runner in 2018 that he was in 2017, he still had over 2,500 yards (the 8th most in a season by an Arizona QB) and 26 Touchdowns passing, to just eight interceptions, all while playing in just 11 games.

The offense was still Top 30, and the offensive scoring was ranked 42nd. It’s not like he didn’t do anything.

So what should we expect?

Well, Tate is the presumptive starter and that’s where the conversation really should begin and end. Unfortunately, a lot will be talked about the fit/ style of Mazzone’s offense in relation to both Doyle and Gunnell. However, here’s the reality, neither have played a down of college football.

While both may ultimately be great quarterbacks, and may be good in practice/ workouts now, practice reps are not the same as game reps. You just can’t supplement that kind of game experience with “good practices”.

In addition to them, Joiner played some last season, but struggled, and Rodriguez showed to be serviceable, but has his limitations too. So, the best bet for Tate being “unseated” is either Doyle or Gunnell, the two youngsters who haven’t logged a minute…

So just how viable or reasonable it is to expect Tate to be unseated? Eh, to me not likely at all.

We heard rumors that Tate would possibly be transferring after the season, and that didn’t happen. So with days until the start of spring, he’s suddenly not going to start next year? That’s a good one!

Let’s look at the facts and be realistic here, he’s going to be a senior with three years of college experience, he will be in his second year with Mazzone.

Besides it’s getting too late in the year for him to reasonably transfer and play elsewhere, with most Spring practices either being done or wrapping-up for other schools. That would just leave fall camp for him to go elsewhere, learn a new playbook, terminology, etc. in hopes of becoming a starter.

While competition is good and will certainly push him to be better, I just don’t see a scenario wear he doesn’t start this year barring injury and something drastic. He’s Arizona’s best chance to win, and with a hungry and focused Tate, I think he will have a bit of resurgence to his 2017 form.

As for Doyle, Gunnell, etc., they will have to wait a little bit, but having a talented group of QB’s certainly can’t hurt the Cats!

At Zona Zealots, we’re excited for the return of football, and can’t wait to see how the Wildcats progress this Spring! Bear Down, Arizona!