Pac-12 Football: Each team’s top Heisman Trophy candidate for 2020

Sophomore quarterback Grant Gunnell might be a better fit for Kevin Sumlin’s offense than outgoing quarterback Khalil Tate was. Most people equate Johnny Manziel with Sumlin’s greatest quarterback successes.

If you really want to see when Sumlin was at his absolute best at cultivating quarterbacks, you have to go back when he was the head coach at the University of Houston and Case Keenum’s career. What Manziel did at A&M might make it seem like Sumlin wants a dual-threat quarterback, but there are two issues with that.

First, many of the plays Manziel made with his legs were not designed runs. They were scrambles outside the pocket when contain broke down. Second, when you look at Keenum’s career, Sumlin wants a quarterback who can throw the ball 30-40 times from the pocket.

The 6’5 Gunnell is that type of quarterback. Gunnell can make any throw asked of him and showed some accuracy in his true freshman season. He completed 65 percent of his passes, stepping in for Tate while he was injured.

In order for the Wildcats to make a run, it would come behind the big arm of Gunnell. There isn’t much around him to get excited about, and he’d be the one carrying the load for Arizona.