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 and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

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 The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only three private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior t ...

. He began his college football career at

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, 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 life

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, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

. 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 (commonly referred to as Gorman or BGHS) is a four-year private, Roman Catholic college preparatory school located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The school is administered by the Archdiocese of Las Vegas. The school opened i ...

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

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, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It ...

. 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 Division II member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

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

Rivals.com Rivals.com (stylized as ''rivals'') is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was found ...

as a four-star recruit and the second best

dual-threat quarterback In gridiron football, a dual-threat quarterback is a quarterback (QB) who is adept at both passing and running with the ball. With the rise of several blitz-heavy defensive schemes and faster defensive players, the importance of a mobile quarter ...

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 school, private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on their ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the U ...

to attend

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

, where he played for coach

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American college football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at West Virginia Mountaineers football, West Virginia University, his second sti ...

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, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

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 United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Eugene, OR Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. 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. The se ...

. 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 Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

, 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 was 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 cham ...

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

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

, a New Year Six game in the CFB Playoff, against

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It ...

. 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 university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

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 college football coach and former linebacker. He is the head football coach for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, a position he has held since 2023. He was also the head football c ...

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

Statistics

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 inc ...

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 C ...

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 direc ...

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

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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 Pacific Islander American players of American football