Jarrett Pekelo Kahanuolaokalani "Anu" Solomon Jr. (born November 5, 1994) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

and Baylor Bears. He began his college football career at

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, before deciding to transfer after his senior year to Baylor. He decided to withdraw from Baylor on October 31, 2017, after suffering a concussion.

Early years

Solomon is Hawaiian. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada at age 10. He grew up with an interest in sports. His father, Jarrett Sr., was an all star, all-state linebacker at Farrington High School and attended

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

. As a youngster, Anu played a variety of sports—baseball (pitcher), basketball (point guard) and football (linebacker and quarterback). Solomon graduated from

Bishop Gorman High School Bishop Gorman High School (also commonly referred to as Gorman High School or BGHS) is a private Roman Catholic preparatory school located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The school is administered by the Diocese of Las Vegas. The school opened in 1954. ...

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in 2013. In four seasons, he passed for 5,234 yards and 49 touchdowns, and rushed for another 1,263 yards and 19 more scores in leading the four-time champion Bishop Gorman Gaels to an overall record of 43–3. As a freshman, Bishop Gorman won its first 12 games. Solomon passed for 2,026 yards with 19 touchdowns, and had 78 yards rushing with 3 touchdowns. He led Bishop Gorman to a 12–1 record. In his sophomore year, Solomon passed for 2,419 yards and 42 touchdowns, and also rushed for 276 yards and two scores. Bishop Gorman finished with a 13–2 record. Solomon passed for 2,770 yards and 41 touchdowns in his junior year of high school. He also rushed for 389 yards and six scores. Bishop Gorman finished with a 15–1 record. Solomon, in his senior year, became the most accomplished passer in Nevada history. Quarterbacking the Bishop Gorman Gaels since his freshman season, he helped in winning the school a record four state titles. In his final high school season, Solomon passed for 2,271 yards and threw 30 touchdowns, while rushing for 179 yards and eight scores. He led Bishop Gorman to a 12–1 record and won a record fourth state title. With 56 wins as a starter, Solomon is the winningest QB in high school football history. Coming out of high school, Solomon received scholarship offers from

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

schools

, Arizona State, Brigham Young University, Colorado, Illinois, Purdue, Utah, Oregon State, Hawaii, Washington, Washington State, Wisconsin and the

University of Nevada at Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the ...

. Solomon made a verbal commitment to Arizona on

National Signing Day National Signing Day has traditionally been the first day that a high school senior can sign a binding National Letter of Intent for a collegiate sport with a school that is a member of the United States National Collegiate Athletic Association ( ...

and signed with Arizona in May 2012. He was ranked by

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as a four-star recruit and the second best

dual-threat quarterback In gridiron football, a dual-threat quarterback, also known as a running quarterback, is a quarterback (QB) who possesses the skills and physique to run with the ball if necessary. With the rise of several blitz heavy defensive schemes and increa ...

in his class.

College career

Arizona

Solomon accepted an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United Stat ...

to attend

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, where he played for coach

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Jacksonville State University. Rodriguez previously was the head football coach at Salem Uni ...

team from 2013 to 2016. Solomon was redshirted during the 2013 season and did not play in any games behind senior quarterback B.J. Denker. He made the travel squad after enrolling with the college in January. Prior to the 2014 season, Solomon was named Arizona's starting quarterback. In his college debut, he completed 25–44, 425 yards, 4 touchdown passes along against the

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

in a 58–13 victory. Solomon was launched into the national scene after he led Arizona to a 31–24 victory over #2

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Eugene, OR Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

. Solomon helped lead the team to a 10–2 regular season record to win Pac-12 South division championship for the first time in school history, in a 42–35 win over Pac-12 South rival

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, including a 59–13 loss to Oregon (rematch from 31 to 24 Arizona win) in the

Pac-12 Football Championship Game The Pac-12 Football Championship Game is an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game from the 2011–2021 seasons had the champion of the North Division against the champi ...

. After a 10–3 regular season, the Wildcats were selected to play in the

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been playe ...

, a New Year Six game in the CFB Playoff, against Boise State. Boise State would win the game 38–30, giving Solomon his only loss as a starter during his college career. Solomon finished the season with 3,793 passing yards, 28 touchdown passes and 9 interceptions. In 2015, Solomon would enter his redshirt sophomore year as the starting quarterback for the Wildcats. Arizona entered the 2015 season ranked No. 22 by the Associated Press and Coaches Poll. In the season opener, Solomon completed 22 of 36 passes for 229 yards and four touchdowns as Arizona defeated UTSA 34–16. He finished the season with 6,460 career passing yards, which is fourth-most in school history, and 48 passing touchdowns, which is third-most all-time. Started and played 11 games, missing contests at Stanford (10/3) and ASU (11/21) due to injury. Also missed second half against UCLA (9/26) and much of fourth quarter against Utah (11/14). Missed time did not prevent him from improving his completion percentage (62.1 percent) and efficiency (146.98) numbers from a breakout freshman season. He had an average of 242.5 yards per game was boosted late in season over final three starts. Averaged 319 yards per game and completed 67 percent of passes in those contests against USC (11/7), Utah (11/14) and New Mexico (12/19). Only two 300-yard passing games of season came in last three outings. He had set a school record for most attempts to begin a season without an interception (210) and saw another program record of 233 overall attempts without a pick come to an end at Washington (10/31) He had a season high for passing yards came at USC (352), while twice tossed four touchdown passes (UTSA, 9/3; Nevada, 9/12). Rushed for scores against NAU (9/19), Utah (11/14) and New Mexico in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl (12/19). Netted 86 yards on 12 rushes with a scored in upset of No. 10 Utah. Tossed multiple touchdown passes in six games, suffering first career defeat (at USC) in 13 games when throwing at least two touchdowns. Was named to several preseason watch lists, including the Manning Award, the Maxwell Award, the Davey O’Brien Award and the Walter Camp Player of the Year watch list. Was named to several preseason watch lists, including the Manning Award, the Maxwell Award, the Davey O’Brien Award and the Walter Camp Player of the Year watch list. He finished the season with 6,922 career passing yards, which is fourth-most in school history, and 49 passing touchdowns, which is third-most all-time. Started and played 4 games, he missed seven contests including Grambling State, Hawaii, Washington, at UCLA, at Utah, USC and ASU due to injury. He finished his career 17–13 () as a starter at Arizona and completed 562 of 851 passes for 7,964 yards, 49 touchdown pass and 28 interceptions. On December 13, 2016, it was announced that Solomon intended to transfer from Arizona, graduating early to be eligible to play in 2017.

Baylor

On January 9, 2017, Solomon committed to

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

for the 2017 season as a graduate transfer. Solomon struggled in two games for Baylor. He suffered a concussion during the Bears 17–10 loss to UTSA on September 9, 2017. On October 31, 2017, head coach

Matt Rhule Matthew Kenneth Rhule (born January 31, 1975) is an American football coach and former player, who is the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He was previously the head coach at Temple University, Baylor University, and for the Carolina Pant ...

announced that Solomon would be withdrawing from Baylor due to his concussion.

Statistics

''Source'': Year* 2013 – red shirt

Awards and honors

High School Awards & Honors *Prep Top-150 Dream Team *Lemming Top Player (Combo Passer) selection *Three-time all-conference (Division I/I Sunset) *Three-time all-region *Four-time all-state selection (NV) *Three-time MaxPreps All-American *Four-Time State Champion 2014 * Polynesian College Football Player of the Year finalists * All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention * 2x Coaches Offensive Player of the Week * 3x

Manning Award The Manning Award has been presented annually since the 2004 football season to the collegiate American football quarterback as judged by the Sugar Bowl Committee to be the best in the United States. It is the only quarterback award that incl ...

of the Week * Athlon Sports' National Freshman of the Week * 2x

Davey O'Brien Award The Davey O'Brien Award, officially the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, named after Davey O'Brien, is presented annually to the collegiate American football player judged by the Davey O'Brien Foundation to be the best of all National Co ...

QB of the Week * Athlon Sports' Pac12 Player of the Week * Vegas Seven- Las Vegas Bowl Pac-12 Player of the Week, Sep 24 *Heisman Candidate 2015 * Maxwell Award Preseason Watchlist * Davey O'Brien Award Preseason Watchlist *

Walter Camp Award The Walter Camp Player of the Year Award is given annually to the collegiate American football player of the year, as decided by a group of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I FBS head coaches and sports information directo ...

Preseason Watchlist * Polynesian College Football Player of the Year watchlists *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

New Mexico Bowl Offensive MVP 2016 *

Maxwell Award The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the college football player judged by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and National Collegiate Athletic Association head coaches and the membership of the Maxwell Football Club to be the best all ...

Watch list (2) *

Watchlist (2) * Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award Watchlist (2) *

Watch list (2) †Shared award 2017 • Maxwell Award Watchlist • Davey O’Brien Award Watchlist • Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award Watchlist

Personal life

Anu is the son of Jarrett Sr. and Jamielyn Solomon and he has six siblings. His given name is Jarrett Pekelo Kahanuolaokalani Jr. He has shortened his middle name to Anu because his young cousins could not pronounce Kahanu. At college, he majored in Economy and Sport industry.

References

External links

Arizona Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon, Anu 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from the Las Vegas Valley Players of American football from Hawaii Players of American football from Nevada American football quarterbacks Bishop Gorman High School alumni Arizona Wildcats football players Baylor Bears football players