Last year, highly touted redshirt sophomore Gunner Kiel took the AAC by storm earning honorable mention in the conference. Kiel is the guy that committed to Indiana, LSU and Notre Dame in said order before transferring to UC after his freshman year.
Last year was his first live action in over two years and Kiel responded by throwing for 3254 yards, 31 TDs on 59% completions with only 13 INTs. Kiel started all 13 games but didn’t finish 3 of them because of a nagging rib injury, imagine what his numbers would have been if he was able to finish every game.
Kiel will have all of his primary weapons back again this year, so the offense should be even better. He is a strong armed quarterback that is on the NFL’s radar already, but must improve on his decision making.
There were times last year where he locked on to his primary target too long and went for the big play instead of checking it down. I’ll blame lack of playing time as some of the problem, but I’ll also say his gift was a curse sometimes because his arm is so strong he thinks he can thread the needle all the time.
Kiel will have to balance that during the 2015 season so he can get his completion percentage up. He also showed the ability to move outside the pocket. He’s not a burner, but he can make a play with his legs if need be. That is an asset not many expected Kiel to have.
With that being said, I think Kiel will be the best quarterback in the AAC this year. Shane Carden is now in the NFL and I personally think that he’s better than Paxton Lynch *sorry Memphis fans*. #BearcatNation will have a first team AAC Quarterback this season.
