A Glimmer Of Hope In A Season Ending Injury

It’s no exaggeration that the quarterback is the most important position in all of professional sports. It’s the one spot where an injury to one player can change a team from a Super Bowl contender to competing for the first pick in the NFL Draft.

And the importance of the position is no different in the college game. 

You can look no further than an Arizona program in the midst of a 17 game losing streak.

And in a weird way what has happened is actually a credit to the coaching staff.
Take quarterback Gunner Cruz, for example.

Watching the first two games of the season, with a few exceptions, one would think there were three plays in the Jedd Fisch playbook: the three yard running back check down, two yard quarterback run and the the 30 yard heave out of bounds.

Then Jordan McCloud arrived and started extending plays with his feet and completing a myriad of intermediate passes up and down the field.

Sure, Arizona likely would have lost both games with McCloud but the feel of each game was much different. McCloud, with repetitions, appeared capable of helping the Cats beat, or at least compete with, good teams.

Furthermore, it looked like the team had an entirely different playbook.

Once McCloud went down with a serious leg injury Saturday night against UCLA, Cruz came back in and proceeded to shrink the playbook to three or four plays.

Arizona isn’t likely to win a game this season with Cruz taking meaningful snaps but there are two good things that Wildcat fans can take from the seven quarters of McCloud football.

This team battles. There’s been multiple times where the Cats could have quit. And they didn’t.

And, just as importantly, McCloud showed that Fisch’s playbook isn’t limited to two and three yard attempts and 7 second drop back sacks.

With a competent quarterback under center, Fisch’s offense actually looked pretty good.

Here’s to hoping that McCloud is fully healthy next season and Anaheim (Calif.) Servite High School quarterback Noah Fifita is ready to come in and compete with the rising junior for the starting quarterback spot.