Gunnar Watson: QB · Troy · #18.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Gunnar Watson
Operates within the system without forcing anything. Played for three head coaches at Troy: Neal Brown, Chip Lindsey and Jon Sumrall. That makes two seasons with an honor, the latest All-Sun Belt in 2023. One game to point at: 392 passing yards and 3 passing TD against Texas State — Week 9, 2023.
Play style
Balanced passer who operates within the system, without one standout number carrying the profile.
Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long
Where the completions actually land
59.3% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 28.6% conversion-per-dropback — 43.8% of completions land short of the sticks.
Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. checkdown by design
Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration
Who gets the tough yard
3 of the team's 20 inside-the-5 carries (15.0%).
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
NJ.com Oct 22Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
Game log · Week-by-week
2023 season · 14 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 48-30vs Stephen F. Austin | 14/22 | 198 | 4 | 1 | 9.0 | 52.1 | 4 TD passes |
| Wk 2 | L 13-42@ No. 15 Kansas State | 17/32 | 167 | 1 | 1 | 5.2 | 55.6 | |
| Wk 3 | L 14-16vs James Madison | 25/46 | 332 | 2 | 1 | 7.2 | 29.1 | |
| Wk 4 | W 27-24vs Western Kentucky | 22/35 | 349 | 1 | 0 | 10.0 | 61.8 | |
| Wk 5 | W 28-7@ Georgia State | 23/30 | 256 | 1 | 1 | 8.5 | 79.1 | |
| Wk 6 | W 37-3vs Arkansas State | 12/21 | 236 | 1 | 0 | 11.2 | 75.2 | |
| Wk 7 | W 19-0@ Army | 10/21 | 227 | 1 | 0 | 10.8 | 60.3 | |
| Wk 9 | W 31-13@ Texas State | 26/40 | 392 | 3 | 0 | 9.8 | 76.4 | Season-high 392 yds |
| Wk 10 | W 28-10vs South Alabama | 19/27 | 271 | 3 | 0 | 10.0 | 67.9 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 11 | W 45-14@ UL Monroe | 24/39 | 219 | 4 | 0 | 5.6 | 76.6 | 4 TD passes |
| Wk 12 | W 31-24vs Louisiana | 17/31 | 199 | 3 | 0 | 6.4 | 74.1 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 13 | W 35-17@ Southern Miss | 21/34 | 289 | 2 | 1 | 8.5 | 80.0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 49-23vs App State | 16/24 | 192 | 1 | 0 | 8.0 | 62.9 | |
 Bowl | L 10-17vs Duke | 21/36 | 230 | 0 | 1 | 6.4 | 20.9 | |
| Total | 267/438 | 3557 | 27 | 6 | 8.1 | — |
Week 9 · 2023
W 31-13
at Texas State
The plays that mattered most
Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 433 passing plays (266 completions) against the box score's 438 attempts (267 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.
Adjusted ANY/A
7.9545 of 212 QBsSack rate
5.0%86 of 212 QBsRarely sacked (86 of 212 QBs) and still 45 of 212 in Adjusted ANY/A.
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Short
0–9 ydsMiddle
10–19 ydsDeep
20+ ydsOverall 61.0% completion on 438 attempts · 51 deep completions averaging 31.1 yds.
Is he a different quarterback when it matters
Each situation vs his own 2023 baseline
No situation moves him more than 38 percentile points from his baseline.
Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.
Splits · Per-game
2023 season · 14 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 254 | 2.1 | 8.8 | 0.3 |
| Road6g | 258 | 2.0 | 8.1 | 0.5 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-78g | 249 | 1.4 | 8.5 | 0.6 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 260 | 2.7 | 8.0 | 0.2 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jon Sumrall
Pass share
48.7%
455 pass / 480 run
Plays / game
66.8
14 games
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2023
Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #57 at the position.
How it ended
Six seasons at Troy, 10,259 passing yards — the college career is complete.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
The role got bigger.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-SUN BELT
All-Sun Belt mention (2023)
Weekly recognition
1 weekly honor (2023)
2 career weekly honors across 2 seasons
Coaching lineage · 2018–2023
3 coachesPlayed under 3 different head coaches: Neal Brown, Chip Lindsey, and Jon Sumrall. Multi-era developmental context.
