Report: Anu Solomon named Baylor Bears starting quarterback

Former Arizona Wildcats starting quarterback Anu Solomon has won the starting job with his new team in the Baylor Bears heading into the 2017 college football season.

There was a time when Anu Solomon was the bright future for the Arizona Wildcats football team. He was the starting quarterback back in 2014, leading the Wildcats to a Pac-12 South division crown.

However, he lost the starting job during his junior year in Tucson to Brandon Dawkins in 2016. With Solomon having already graduated from the University of Arizona, he was allowed to transfer and play immediately at his new school of choice.

Solomon opted to transfer to the Baylor Bears of the Big 12. On Tuesday, he was named the starting quarterback heading into the regular season opener against Liberty. Yahoo! Sports’ Pete Thamel first broke the news of Solomon winning the job in Waco.

In his three years with the Wildcats, Solomon completed 59.5 percent of his passes for 6,910 yards, 49 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Keep in mind that he played sparingly for head coach Rich Rodriguez in 2016.

It could be a strange year for new Baylor head coach Matt Rhule. While he won at a high level at Group of 5 power Temple, coaching in the Big 12 is not easy. The Oklahoma schools are playoff caliber and it won’t be long before Tom Herman has Texas humming again.

Rhule is a good coach, but he is inheriting a difficult situation at Baylor. The end of the Art Briles era in Waco was a messy one. Interim head coach Jim Grobe did a fine job keeping the program afloat, but it is up to Rhule to change the culture at Baylor.

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Bringing in a guy that wasn’t part of the mess previously in Solomon was probably a good move. If he and Rhule mesh well in their one year together, Baylor might surprise some people in the Big 12. The Bears aren’t winning the conference, but they could have a say in who does with a big upset here or there.