6′1″ · 208 lb · Raleigh, NC · The Boys' Latin School
He has 24 touchdown passes, the most among FBS quarterbacks.
Oregon State has won five straight in his games, 5-2 in all. A pocket passer.
Strongest: 8.9 yards an attempt, 24th best of 145 starters.
Plays most like Richter, Toledo.
Passing yards
2,583
188 of 272, 69%
TD–INT
24–2
9.5 per throw
NCAA rating
176.5
7th of 103
ZPR
56
39th of 103
Solid or better in 6 of 7.
Best: San Diego State. Worst: at Houston, sacked 4 times.
Tap a game for its plays
at Houston
L 20–33·Ranked #23
Shaky
376 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT · Rush 3 for 8, 1 TD · Sacked 4
Biggest swing: his Q4 completion added 18 points of win chance. Win chance: 7% to 25%.
Texas Tech
L 24–35·Ranked #13
Solid
413 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT · No rushes · Sacked 2
Biggest swing: his Q4 completion cost his team 45 points of win chance. It flipped the game against his team: 63% to 18%.
Montana
W 52–17·FCS
Solid
333 yds, 5 TD, 0 INT · Rush 1 for 1, 1 TD · Sacked 0
Biggest swing: his Q1 completion added 23 points of win chance. Win chance: 60% to 83%.
at UTEP
W 33–7·Unranked
Solid
Slow start, strong finish · 301 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT · Rush 2 for 8 · Sacked 0
No single play moved his team's chance of winning by more than a few points.
at Colorado State
W 56–26·Unranked
Solid
404 yds, 5 TD, 0 INT · Rush 3 for 33 · Sacked 1
Biggest swing: his Q1 completion added 25 points of win chance. It flipped the game for his team: 49% to 74%.
San Diego State
W 66–14·Unranked
Great
409 yds, 5 TD, 0 INT · No rushes · Sacked 1
Biggest swing: his Q1 completion added 15 points of win chance. Win chance: 63% to 78%.
Washington State
W 48–30·Unranked
Solid
347 yds, 3 TD, 0 INT · Rush 3 for 19 · Sacked 0
No single play moved his team's chance of winning by more than a few points.
Season
Fades after halftime
Each column is a quarter. Blue and up is a good stretch for him, red and down a bad one, hatched means the game was already decided. A red cross is a turnover and a black dot a touchdown. The word on the right grades the whole game. A gold line means the r/CFB game thread kept naming him. Tap a game to open its plays: each bar is one of his plays, up helped his team’s chance of winning and down hurt it, and the grey line is that chance.
The word grades the game against every FBS quarterback start, from Rough to Great, using the same throws as his season Zeitgeist Passer Rating and adjusting for the defense he faced. Bars are points added per throw in that quarter. The Season row leaves out quarters after a game was decided.
Pocket passer
Also: yards after catch
The dot is where he sits among this season’s starters; the tick is the middle.
Throws at a middling depth and rarely runs. 1.4 carries a game. Closest matches: Richter, Carr ’25, Grunkemeyer, Maiava.
Where his throws go
Runs 1.4 times a game; 89% of starters run more.
Who he is like
Nearer to him means more alike.
Compared with the 145 FBS starters this season for his throws and running, and with 207 quarterbacks across 2 seasons for the matches, on how they play and how they have done.
“Atkinson....you ain't pushing them forward. Dont do that.”
Oregon State fan, r/CFB game thread · vs Washington State, Oct 17
11 stories in the last 30 days, from 6 outlets.
Braden Atkinson
Picks you apart underneath and protects the ball. One game to point at: 409 passing yards and 5 passing TD against San Diego State — Week 6, 2026.
2,583 passing yards · 24 passing TD · 1 rushing yards
Play style
High-percentage passer who protects the ball. Loses the matchup on improvisation.
Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long
Where the completions actually land
45.8% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 14.8% conversion-per-dropback — 63.6% 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
2 of the team's 23 inside-the-5 carries (8.7%).
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Oregon State | 188 | 272 | 69.1% | 2,583 | 9.5 | 24 | 2 | 176.5 | 56 |
| Career | 188 | 272 | 69.1% | 2,583 | 9.5 | 24 | 2 | 176.5 | 56 |
| Season | Team | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Oregon State | 22 | 1 | 0.0 | 2 |
| Career | 22 | 1 | 0.0 | 2 |
Last game (Wk 7): 347 passing yards, 3 passing TD.
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 7 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 20-33@ No. 23 Houston | 29/48 | 376 | 1 | 0 | 7.8 | — | |
| Wk 2 | L 24-35vs No. 13 Texas Tech | 31/51 | 413 | 2 | 1 | 8.1 | 68.7 | Season-high 413 yds |
| Wk 3 | W 52-17vs Montana | 22/30 | 333 | 5 | 0 | 11.1 | 93.0 | 5 TD passes |
| Wk 4 | W 33-7@ UTEP | 24/34 | 301 | 3 | 1 | 8.9 | 48.6 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 5 | W 56-26@ Colorado State | 30/33 | 404 | 5 | 0 | 12.2 | 88.4 | 5 TD passes |
| Wk 6 | W 66-14vs San Diego State | 29/38 | 409 | 5 | 0 | 10.8 | 96.6 | 5 TD passes |
| Wk 7 | W 48-30vs Washington State | 23/38 | 347 | 3 | 0 | 9.1 | 66.4 | 3 TD passes |
| Total | 188/272 | 2583 | 24 | 2 | 9.5 | — |
Oct. 17 · W 48-30 vs Washington State
23 of 38 for 347 yards and 3 touchdowns.
A big game: 29 of 38 for 409 yards and 5 touchdowns; 10.8 yards an attempt, 10th-best in FBS that week. Oregon State scored touchdowns on 8 of the 10 drives he played.
24-yard completion to Cynai Thomas on 3rd and 7. First quarter, tied 0-0. Converted.
10-yard completion to Jesse Legree on 3rd and 12. First quarter, tied 0-0.
2-yard touchdown pass to Maalik Murphy on 4th and 2. First quarter, made it 7-0.
71-yard touchdown pass to Jesse Legree. Third quarter, made it 45-7.
Each pass sits where it was caught or thrown to, in yards past the line. The play text only says left, middle or right, so inside a lane marks are sorted, not placed.
A big game: 30 of 33 for 404 yards and 5 touchdowns; 12.2 yards an attempt, 7th-best in FBS that week.
Not drawn: the play-by-play doesn’t add up to the box score.
24 of 34 for 301 yards, 3 touchdowns and an interception. He was 4 of 9 on third and fourth down.
19-yard completion to Aaron Butler on 3rd and 7. First quarter, tied 0-0. Converted.
Intercepted. Second quarter, up 17-0. Picked off by UTEP’s Kaleb Miles.
Incomplete to Jesse Legree on 4th and 5. Second quarter, up 17-0. Turnover on downs.
46-yard completion to Jesse Legree on 3rd and 3. Third quarter, up 27-7. Converted.
Each pass sits where it was caught or thrown to, in yards past the line. The play text only says left, middle or right, so inside a lane marks are sorted, not placed.
A big game: 22 of 30 for 333 yards and 5 touchdowns. Oregon State scored touchdowns on 6 of the 7 drives he played.
4-yard completion to Aeryn Hampton on 3rd and 6. First quarter, tied 0-0.
40-yard completion to AJ Newberry on 4th and 2. First quarter, tied 0-0. Converted.
5-yard completion to AJ Newberry on 3rd and 2. First quarter, up 7-0. Converted.
48-yard completion to Jesse Legree. Third quarter, up 35-3.
Each pass sits where it was caught or thrown to, in yards past the line. The play text only says left, middle or right, so inside a lane marks are sorted, not placed.
31 of 51 for 413 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception.
Not drawn: the play-by-play doesn’t add up to the box score.
29 of 48 for 376 yards and a touchdown. Three drives ended on his fourth-down plays: a run that came up short and an incompletion and a sack.
Sacked for a 11-yard loss on 3rd and 7. First quarter, tied 0-0.
71-yard completion to Jesse Legree. First quarter, down 6-0.
3-yard touchdown run on 3rd and 3. First quarter, made it 7-6.
No gain on 4th and 1. First quarter, down 9-7. Turnover on downs.
Each pass sits where it was caught or thrown to, in yards past the line. The play text only says left, middle or right, so inside a lane marks are sorted, not placed.
Week 6 · 2026
W 66-14
The plays that mattered most
1st in passing yards, among all 431 FBS players with a passing row this season, any position
Conference ranks count every player in the conference with a row in that stat, any position. Career ranks count current FBS players, from the games in our log.
Ratings of the games shown run from -25 to +22 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).
Pass Profile · True throw depth (charted plays)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 274 passing plays (190 completions) against the box score's 272 attempts (188 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.
Adjusted ANY/A
10.334 of 170 QBsSack rate
3.2%41 of 170 QBsRarely sacked (41 of 170 QBs) and still 4 of 170 in Adjusted ANY/A.
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Behind LOS · Negative air yds
Short · 0–9 air yds
Middle · 10–19 air yds
Deep · 20+ air yds
Overall 69.1% completion on 272 attempts · 38% completion on 56 deep attempts (20+ air yds).
Is he a different quarterback when it matters
Each situation vs his own 2026 baseline
No situation moves him more than 10 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
2026 season · 7 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 376 | 3.8 | 9.8 | 0.2 |
| Road3g | 360 | 3.0 | 9.6 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 369 | 3.4 | 9.7 | 0.3 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
JaMarcus Shephard
Pass share
66.2%
497 pass / 254 run
Plays / game
107.3
7 games
Scheme: Pass-heavy, fast tempo.
Player standing · 2026
Our Heisman model ranks this player #24 right now. Heisman finalists are named in December.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #3 at the position.
Heisman futures · sportsbook market
#10 in market · 2 books
Our Heisman model · 2026 · week 8
Weeks outside our model's top 25 sit on the baseline.
#24 in our model as of week 8, the highest yet this season.
Our model's rank, not the betting market's.
The No. 1,392 recruit in the country is starting at quarterback in the Pac-12 as a sophomore.
from 6 outlets
College Football QB Power Rankings: Oregon State's Braden Atkinson surges, Arch Manning plummets
CBS Sports Oct 14 · 1 outlet · 1 fan thread
247Sports +1Braden Atkinson throws 5 TDs as Oregon State routs Colorado StateOct 4
Mountain West Connection +1Oregon state wins big at colorado state 56-26 behind jesse legree and braden atkinsonOct 4CBS SportsBraden Atkinson throws 5 TDs as Oregon State routs San Diego StateOct 10from 18 outlets
Oregon State names Mercer transfer Braden Atkinson starting quarterback
KPIC +1 Aug 24 · 2 outlets · 1 fan thread
Corvallis Gazette-TimesBraden Atkinson named starting quarterback for Oregon State football - Corvallis Gazette-TimesAug 24
Albany Democrat-HeraldBraden Atkinson named starting quarterback for Oregon State football - Albany Democrat-HeraldAug 24
Sports IllustratedBraden Atkinson Named Oregon State Starting QuarterbackAug 24
Field Level Media +1Former Mercer standout Braden Atkinson wins Oregon State QB jobAug 25
Statesman Journal +1'He won the job;' Braden Atkinson ready to lead Oregon State offenseAug 29247Sports +1Braden Atkinson throws 5 TDs as Oregon State routs Colorado StateOct 4Mountain West Connection +1Oregon state wins big at colorado state 56-26 behind jesse legree and braden atkinsonOct 4CBS SportsBraden Atkinson throws 5 TDs as Oregon State routs San Diego StateOct 10CBS SportsCollege Football QB Power Rankings: Oregon State's Braden Atkinson surges, Arch Manning plummetsOct 14
OregonLiveHow Braden Atkinson’s performance against Auburn began his path to Oregon StateAug 26
On3JaMarcus Shephard calls QB Braden Atkinson a 'total football junkie' and means itAug 28On3Oregon State QB Braden Atkinson Plays With A Chip On His ShoulderAug 29OregonLive +1Braden Atkinson's 376-yard game gave Oregon State fans something to feel good aboutSep 5Sports IllustratedShephard: OSU's Braden Atkinson plays the QB Position "Like a Pro"Aug 26OregonLiveBraden Atkinson throws touchdowns to 5 different Oregon State receivers, maintains national passing leadSep 20Corvallis Gazette-TimesBraden Atkinson continues hot start with a dominant performance in win - Corvallis Gazette-TimesSep 20Sports Illustrated +1Relive Oregon State Quarterback Braden Atkinson's Award-Winning 2025 SeasonAug 27
Oregon State University AthleticsBraden Atkinson, Jesse Legree Earn Pac-12 Weekly HonorsSep 21CBS Sports247Sports +1Oregon State University AthleticsStatesman Journal +1Each week: his team’s game, the stories about him that week, and the week’s biggest news headline.
Stories are headlines grouped by what they are about, counted through Oct 23.
Fans first named him at Houston.
Aura™ · Him Watch
Aura compares how much fans talk about him with how well he plays, each ranked among QBs.
−31aura tax
85th percentile our passing-value metric (weighted expected points added) ranked among 358 QBs
— the tape outruns the hype.2026 is in progress.
His career
