Gunner Trey Kiel (born July 23, 1993) 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 ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

and later for the

Cincinnati Bearcats The Cincinnati Bearcats are the college sports, athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. The teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and the Football Bowl Subdivision as members of the Big 12 Conference. The Bearcats were pr ...

Early life

Kiel attended

Columbus East High School Columbus East High School (CEHS) is one of three high schools in Columbus, Indiana, United States. East is a member of the Hoosier Hills Conference in athletics and has a total of 5 IHSAA state championships. It was founded in 1972 due to the ...

Columbus, Indiana Columbus () is a city in and the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana, United States. The population was 50,474 at the 2020 census. The city is known for its architectural significance, having commissioned noted works of modern architect ...

. He played on the Columbus East

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team. As a senior in 2011, he won the Indiana Mr. Football Award. Kiel was considered the best quarterback recruit in the nation by the Rivals.com and Scout.com recruiting networks.

College career

Kiel originally committed to

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

, before decommitting and committing to

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. He then decommitted and officially enrolled at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

on January 17, 2012. After spending the 2012 season on the depth chart behind

Everett Golson Everett Demone Golson (born January 2, 1993) is an American former professional football quarterback. He previously played quarterback for Notre Dame from 2011 to the spring of 2015. Golson chose to transfer to Florida State after graduating fr ...

, Tommy Rees, and Andrew Hendrix, Kiel announced his decision to transfer from Notre Dame. On April 10, 2013, Kiel announced he would transfer to the University of Cincinnati for the 2013 season. After sitting out the 2013 season as required by NCAA transfer rules, Kiel made his college debut on September 12, 2014, against the

Toledo Rockets The Toledo Rockets are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Toledo. The Rockets compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The ...

. He threw six touchdown passes in that game, the most by an FBS quarterback in a first game. Kiel finished the season with 3,254 passing yards, second most in the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

. His 31 touchdown passes led the conference and tied the school record. Kiel was 18 yards short of tying the Cincinnati school record for single season passing yards when he exited the Military Bowl in the third quarter with a head injury. Kiel began the 2015 season as Cincinnati's starter. He was plagued with injuries throughout the year, being replaced by backup Hayden Moore on several occasions. Kiel missed two games after being hospitalized with a head injury in Cincinnati's game against Memphis. He did not travel with the team to their bowl game in Hawaii, citing personal problems. Prior to the 2016 season, Cincinnati head coach,

Tommy Tuberville Thomas Hawley Tuberville (; born September 18, 1954) is an American politician and retired college football coach who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from Alabama, a seat he has held since 2021. Before ...

, announced that Kiel, now a fifth-year senior, would be the third-string quarterback behind sophomore Hayden Moore (starter) and redshirt freshman Ross Trail (second-string). On October 20, Kiel was named the starter for Cincinnati's homecoming game against East Carolina after Hayden Moore went down with injury. He started the next three games but was benched again when Moore returned from injury.

College statistics

Personal life

Gunner's uncle,

Blair Kiel Blair Armstrong Kiel (November 29, 1961 – April 8, 2012) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL), Canadian Football League (CFL), and Arena Football League (AFL). He was a four- ...

(1961–2012), was a quarterback at Notre Dame and played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

, His brother Drew Kiel was QB for Illinois State, and brother Dusty Kiel was a QB for Indiana University.

References

External links

Cincinnati Bearcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiel, Gunner 1993 births Living people American football quarterbacks Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Cincinnati Bearcats football players Sportspeople from Columbus, Indiana Players of American football from Indiana