12 Days Till Arizona Football: Looking Back at Former Quarterback
The countdown continues as we are now officially 12 days away from the season opener for Arizona against Hawaii. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be taking a look back at some of the top players in Arizona football history by jersey number as we inch closer towards the start of the season for the Wildcats.
We continue with former Arizona QB Tom Tunnicliffe who played with the Wildcats from 1980-83.
Tunnicliffe got in almost halfway through his freshman season in which he threw for 1,204 yards and eight touchdowns to nine interceptions across seven games.
As a sophomore, Tunnicliffe threw for 1,420 yards on a completion percentage of 54 percent with nine touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
Tunnicliffe followed that up with a career-high 2,520 passing yards over 11 games as a junior on a completion percentage of 54 percent with 18 touchdowns to 14 interceptions and 2,474 yards as a senior on a completion percentage of 53 percent with 11 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.
Across his career at Arizona, Tunnicliffe finished with 7,618 passing yards which was then the fourth-most in the history of the Pac-10. That included throwing for more than 100 yards in his final 26 games. He earned National Player of the Week honors after throwing for 427 yards and six touchdowns.
Tunnicliffe led the Wildcats to wins over UCLA in 1980, USC in 1981, Notre Dame in 1982, Arizona State in 1982 and UCLA again in 1983 that all remain some of the most iconic wins in Arizona football program history.
Among his current career stat records in UA program history, Tunnicliffe ranks third in all-time passing yards (7,618), fifth in career passing touchdowns (46), fifth in total offensive yards in program history (7,336) and eighth in total touchdowns responsible for as both a passer and runner (53). He is also tied with Jayden de Laura for the most passing touchdowns in a single game in program history when he threw for six passing touchdowns against Pacific in 1982.
Tunnicliffe established himself as one of the top quarterbacks in program history at Arizona and was arguably one of the best quarterbacks for the Wildcats in the era of Pac-10 football.
What do you remember from the career for Tunnicliffe at Arizona or what have you heard? Let us know and be sure to follow us on our X account by clicking on the link.
Ari Koslow is a sports writer covering the University of Arizona athletics at On SI. Koslow has been covering Arizona sports for several years. Born and raised in Seattle, he is a diehard Seahawks fan and a longtime sufferer of the Mariners. He is a huge fantasy football fanatic. Koslow is a graduate of Arizona’s School of Journalism.