Does Gunnell have to sit out a season?

[Dannymacfan]

Grant Gunnell was supposed to be the recruit that would justify Arizona hiring Kevin Sumlin. Instead he’s looking for a third college team in four years.

The former Wildcats quarterback, who transferred to Memphis shortly after Sumlin was fired in late 2020, has re-entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Gunnell never saw the field for the Tigers, suffering a season-ending injury last August. Because he’s already transferred once, and was immediately eligible, he’d have to sit out a season unless he received a waiver.

With Arizona, Gunnell started seven games in 2019-20, splitting the starting job with Khalil Tate as a true freshman and then starting four of five contests in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He threw for 352 yards and a touchdown on 29-of-44 in his collegiate debut, a win over UCLA in Sept. 2019 that earned him Pac-12 Player of the Week honors.

read more:  https://www.azdesertswarm.com/2022/4/30/23049946/arizona-wildcats-grant-gunnell-memphis-tigers-ncaa-transfer-portal-injury-sumlin-khalil-tate-fisch

[El Paso Eagle]

I believe he sat out/ red-shirted last year

Edited May 16, 2022 by El Paso Eagle

[Cr1028]

3 hours ago, El Paso Eagle said:

I believe he sat out/ red-shirted last year

So he would be a Redshirt sophomore here since he’d get the covid year but since he already used his free transfer to go to Memphis, he’d need that waiver unless he was a grad transfer I am assuming.

[UNT18Grad]

He just went through graduation at Memphis.  Will be working on his masters at UNT.

[keith]

According to 247sports.com, he's eligible immediately.

[NT80]

Gunnell was second in line for snaps in the Memphis spring game, along with another vet.  He did well, but there is also a hotshot freshman pushing both veterans. Perhaps the comments below were part of the reason for the transfer to NT after the finish of spring practice at Memphis. Interesting comments from an insider about Gunnell's situation and if the decision was his....

"This year could be do-or-die for Seth Littrell at North Texas and the addition of former Memphis quarterback Grant Gunnell should likely bolster the Mean Green’s offensive machine. Sources say it’s the junior’s father who calls the shots and while Gunnell didn’t necessarily want to compete for the Tiger’s starting spot, he didn’t really want to transfer again."

 

https://www.underdogdynasty.com/2022/5/15/23072320/smu-football-rhett-lashlee-breaks-down-the-mustangs-2022-2023-schedule

[Ghost of Tate]

On 5/16/2022 at 10:09 PM, NT80 said:

Gunnell was second in line for snaps in the Memphis spring game, along with another vet.  He did well, but there is also a hotshot freshman pushing both veterans. Perhaps the comments below were part of the reason for the transfer to NT after the finish of spring practice at Memphis. Interesting comments from an insider about Gunnell's situation and if the decision was his....

"This year could be do-or-die for Seth Littrell at North Texas and the addition of former Memphis quarterback Grant Gunnell should likely bolster the Mean Green’s offensive machine. Sources say it’s the junior’s father who calls the shots and while Gunnell didn’t necessarily want to compete for the Tiger’s starting spot, he didn’t really want to transfer again."

 

https://www.underdogdynasty.com/2022/5/15/23072320/smu-football-rhett-lashlee-breaks-down-the-mustangs-2022-2023-schedule

Helicopter city. Is Gunnell expected to beat out Aune?

[ipd054]

Can Gunnel: Complete 52.8% of his passes (Aune was 256 of 485 at North Texas in 2021), throw less than 9 interceptions, and complete more than 11.1 passes a game? (256 completions in 23 games)?

The answer is yes, for his career 12 games, he averages 66.5% completions, 3 total interceptions, and completes 13.75 passes per game.

Now the question is what will he look like with our line?  He will probably be a lot like Aune. 

[UNT18Grad]

5 hours ago, ipd054 said:

Can Gunnel: Complete 52.8% of his passes (Aune was 256 of 485 at North Texas in 2021), throw less than 9 interceptions, and complete more than 11.1 passes a game? (256 completions in 23 games)?

The answer is yes, for his career 12 games, he averages 66.5% completions, 3 total interceptions, and completes 13.75 passes per game.

Now the question is what will he look like with our line?  He will probably be a lot like Aune. 

The same line that paved the way for a top 5 rushing attack in FBS?  Is that the line you're referring to here?

We also return 4 starters on that line so I'm feeling pretty good about them.

[MGNation92]

10 hours ago, UNT18Grad said:

The same line that paved the way for a top 5 rushing attack in FBS?  Is that the line you're referring to here?

We also return 4 starters on that line so I'm feeling pretty good about them.

Just because you're good at run blocking, doesn't mean you're good at pass blocking.

That being said I think our line is solid. Aune is inaccurate and our top receiver was a walk-on. I think even if Shorter and Bush don't make a full recovery to start the season, having Maclin will be a huge help to whoever the QB is. 

I hope Gunnell or Ruder figure it out, because Aune is exactly who he is. I can't imagine there's gonna be a huge improvement over last year

[ipd054]

Yes, the line was not good in pass protection.  They were top 10 in sacks allowed, top 15 in penalties, and in the bottom third in pass protection.  In the games I watched Aune rarely had a clean pocket.  The did get better as the season went along but we also started running the ball more than we passed. 

 

[UNT18Grad]

33 minutes ago, ipd054 said:

Yes, the line was not good in pass protection.  They were top 10 in sacks allowed, top 15 in penalties, and in the bottom third in pass protection.  In the games I watched Aune rarely had a clean pocket.  The did get better as the season went along but we also started running the ball more than we passed. 

 

Got a source for those?  I'm assuming you looked at the NCAA numbers below and noticed we are top 10 in sacks allowed.  Notice how every team ranked "lower" than us has actually allowed more sacks? 

Your own personal eye test and belief is one thing, but the main stat you provided proves the opposite of your point.  I'm assuming you also looked at the same website for the penalties number you gave, and unless you have a separate stat that solely shows OL penalties I don't think it's fair to lump every team penalty as a criticism of the OL play.

I'm not saying the OL is amazing, but the numbers seem to point to a group that is far from a weakness and returning 4 starters is a luxury most teams would love to have.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/468

Edited June 15, 2022 by UNT18Grad

[Cr1028]

1 hour ago, MGNation92 said:

That being said I think our line is solid. Aune is inaccurate and our top receiver was a walk-on. I think even if Shorter and Bush don't make a full recovery to start the season, having Maclin will be a huge help to whoever the QB is. 

I hope Gunnell or Ruder figure it out, because Aune is exactly who he is. I can't imagine there's gonna be a huge improvement over last year

That was not by design. Aune didn’t have the top three targets and was left throwing to walkons and underclassmen. Aune led CUSA in passing efficiency in 2020 with Darden at his disposal. Let’s see what the man can do with a full strength receiving corps.

[Uncle]

2 hours ago, ipd054 said:

Yes, the line was not good in pass protection.  They were top 10 in sacks allowed, top 15 in penalties, and in the bottom third in pass protection.  In the games I watched Aune rarely had a clean pocket.  The did get better as the season went along but we also started running the ball more than we passed. 

 

 

[MGNation92]

1 hour ago, Cr1028 said:

That was not by design. Aune didn’t have the top three targets and was left throwing to walkons and underclassmen. Aune led CUSA in passing efficiency in 2020 with Darden at his disposal. Let’s see what the man can do with a full strength receiving corps.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/austin-aune-1.html

He still only completed 55% of his passes. Efficiency =/= Accuracy. Mason Fine averaged 62.8% completion. Aune is a full 10 points below that.

He needs to improve period. If he or whoever the starter is, doesn't, we're in for a similar season as the last two.

[keith]

53 minutes ago, Uncle said:

 

Per pass attempt would be a better statistic obviously.  A team could get a sacks per game stat of zero by never attempting a pass.  Likewise, chucking the ball 50 times provides a lot more opportunities for the defense to get to the QB. 

[meangreen11]

Back to the original question, I do think he might have graduated from Memphis so he does not have to sit out as a grad transfer.

[UNT18Grad]

5 hours ago, keith said:

Per pass attempt would be a better statistic obviously.  A team could get a sacks per game stat of zero by never attempting a pass.  Likewise, chucking the ball 50 times provides a lot more opportunities for the defense to get to the QB. 

Agreed, we passed the ball 394 times and gave up 15 sacks so one sack every 26 pass attempts.  Just to give some comparison Georgia passed 407 times and gave up 16 sacks so one sack every 25 pass attempts.  Too lazy to see how we compare nationally but that seems like a pretty good number to me.

I also think the opponent is an important factor since it can be assumed we would give up a lot more sacks to Alabama than Houston Baptist and 8 of our 15 sacks came against UAB, SMU, and Missouri.  Again, tough to compare to everyone but only giving up 7 sacks over the course of the other 10 games doesn't seem bad at all.

Edited June 16, 2022 by UNT18Grad

[Cr1028]

6 hours ago, Uncle said:

 

[Mean Green 93-98]

7 hours ago, meangreen11 said:

Back to the original question, I do think he might have graduated from Memphis so he does not have to sit out as a grad transfer.

That is correct.