Grant Gunnell reconnects with familiar faces, commits to Arizona
Sometimes the most obvious course of action is also the best one, and on Wednesday afternoon, Rivals100 quarterback Grant Gunnell made a highly-anticipated commitment to Arizona.
Gunnell had previously been committed to Texas A&M, but shortly after new Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher took over, he re-opened his recruitment. Things didn’t take long for him to start seriously reconsidering a commitment with a familiar staff at a new program.
“It just came down to the trust that I have in Coach (Kevin) Sumlin and Coach (Noel) Mazzone and what they’re trying to do with the program and turn it around,” he said. “Now I’m just relaxed and a lot of that pressure is gone.”
Gunnell is one of the country’s top quarterback prospects and easily the top passer in Texas, where Sumlin and his staff have continued recruiting hard. His relationship with Mazzone had long been one of the most significant factors in his recruitment and an easy line to draw back to him and why he held Arizona in such high regard.
“Looking at the offensive styles that he runs and the quarterbacks that he’s had in the past fit my kind of style,” he said. “So that was a big part of things for me and Coach Sumlin is sort of a players’ coach and I like that.”
Gunnell was active this spring taking visits, as he was last year, and even though there were already plenty of reasons for him to be interested in Arizona, his official visit helped seal the deal. Liking the staff is one thing, but being comfortable in a new environment away from home is another, and he enjoyed the feeling he got while in Tucson.
“My comfort level with how open and honest they were with everything made the visit better,” he said. “I got to hang out with some of the other players out there, seeing how they are and what it will be like living out there with them and I like that a lot. I was hanging out with all the linemen and they were a lot of fun.”
Several other top programs had hoped to add Gunnell to their class after he stepped back from his A&M commitment. A recent official visit to Ohio State left many thinking that the Buckeyes were making a late charge, others thought Oklahoma State factored heavily into his decision and LSU had been lurking around for some time as well.
Now that he’s re-committed to the same head coach and offensive coordinator as once before, things seem pretty well wrapped up as far as his recruitment is concerned.
“After this week I just kind of sat down and looked at all the pros and cons and this was really just the best fit for me,” he said. “Like with Ohio State, I just saw that they never really had a quarterback that was my style of player, so there was some uncertainty there … With Mazzone, the quarterbacks he’s had have sort of looked like me and played like me – like prototype – I and I’ve always liked that.”
Gunnell is also one of the more charismatic prospects in the state, and has pretty strong relationships with top talents in central and southeastern parts of the state. He said that he’s immediately getting to work on four-star wide receiver Elijah Higgins as well as high three-star prospect Jaylen Ellis, who has been one of the most sought-after pass-catchers in the state over the past several weeks.
“I think (McKade) Mettauer – my lineman is going to take an official visit too,” he said. “I’ve just been letting them know that we can be the new face of the program and rebuild … It’s definitely an offensive conference, so I think Arizona is going to be in the hunt.”