Arizona turns to Gilbert’s Plummer at QB
Jedd Fisch has been coaching for more than 20 years. He never has experienced anything like the attrition that’s hit the Arizona quarterback room.
The Wildcats lots two quarterbacks, Jordan McCloud and Gunner Cruz, to season-ending injuries in consecutive weeks. They had three scholarship QBs at the start of the season after adding McCloud and Cruz via the NCAA transfer portal. Now they have one healthy signal-caller who’s on scholarship: second-year freshman Will Plummer.
But as Fisch told the injured quarterbacks, nothing can be done about what’s already taken place. They have to rehab as best they can. Arizona has to prepare for what’s next.
That means coaching up Plummer; walk-ons Luke Ashworth and Brayden Zermeno; and receiver Jamarye Joiner, who began his UA career as a quarterback, took two snaps vs. Colorado and has thrown a touchdown pass this season.
“We have to find ways to move the ball,” said Fisch, whose team hosts Washington on Friday night. “I’ve never personally been in a position where the depth chart is where it’s at. So you have to be prepared, right? You have to be prepared for what-if scenarios the next time.
“We have six games to play. And one scholarship quarterback.”
Plummer entered in relief of Cruz in the third quarter of last week’s 34-0 loss at Colorado. Cruz injured his thumb at the end of a 14-yard scramble. Fisch confirmed Monday that Cruz will be out for the year.
Plummer has appeared in seven career games, including two starts. The Gilbert High School product has completed 79 of 151 passes (52.3%) for 768 yards with two touchdowns and six interceptions. He also has rushed for 106 yards on 37 attempts.
Ashworth is in his fourth year in the program. He has yet to appear in a game. He prepped at Phoenix Arcadia High School, where he passed for 3,244 yards and 29 touchdowns in three seasons.
Zermeno is a freshman from Los Angeles. He had double-digit offers coming out of Loyola High School. Most were from FCS schools, but two were from FBS programs: Maryland and San Diego State. He was committed to Princeton before coming to Arizona as a preferred walk-on.
Joiner played quarterback at Cienega High School. He accumulated more than 6,000 yards of offense and accounted for 51 touchdowns over his final two seasons.
Recruited by Rich Rodriguez and his staff, Joiner spent the 2018 campaign as a backup quarterback under Kevin Sumlin. Joiner switched to wide receiver in the summer of 2019. He missed the start of this season after having offseason foot surgery for the second straight year.
Joiner is a tremendous athlete and an intriguing option, but Fisch doesn’t seem inclined to make Joiner a full-time quarterback again. It would be an exceedingly difficult transition in the middle of a season.
“We’ll meet with him separately,” Fisch said. “There’s gonna be some opportunities that we can help bring him along to be serviceable if the time comes that we would have to do something like that.”
More likely than not, Joiner will continue to be used as a “Wildcat” quarterback in certain situations — assuming Plummer can stay out of the infirmary.
Cruz, McCloud timelines
Fisch said Cruz likely will be out for six months because of the injury to his throwing hand. McCloud had surgery on his ankle last week and is also rehabbing a knee injury. Fisch said McCloud could be ready to participate in workouts by January.
Since getting hurt vs. UCLA on Oct. 9, McCloud has called several teammates to tell them he can’t wait for next season’s opener at San Diego State. In the meantime, he and Cruz will attack their respective rehabs. Fisch advised them to look forward.
“We can’t really go back and change it,” he said. “It’s now, can you win the rehab? Can you win the surgery? Can you win the offseason? When it’s your time, can you find yourself ready to go?
“With Gunner (it’s) the same conversation: These things are unfortunate, and no one can control injury. But what you can control is every day after that injury. Can you use this time to get yourself in a position where you’re in incredible condition? Can you mentally get yourself in a position where you learn and know the offense in such a way that when you come back in spring football, your answers are quicker (and) you’re able to make faster decisions?”
Cruz played three snaps vs. Colorado after injuring his thumb while trying to fend off linebacker Quinn Perry. The third play was an interception that the Buffaloes returned for a touchdown. Fisch and his staff didn’t realize at first that Cruz had gotten hurt.
“As I said to Gunner, in that situation, you just gotta go down,” Fisch said. “You just gotta go down so we can get our backup quarterback to take snaps, and we can have a trainer or doctor take a look.
“There’s really no gutting it out at the quarterback position when it comes to your throwing hand. You need to have someone look at it first, and then we can make that decision whether or not this is something that you have the ability to gut out.
“We tell our players all the time, if you’re hurt, go down. Go down and let the medical team take a look. The bestcase scenario is you’re out for one play. The worst-case scenario is you’re injured and you can’t go.”