Taron Dickens

517 team passing yards leader isn't a headline at Northern Illinois anymore — it's just what Taron Dickens reliably is.

QB · Northern Illinois · Jr. · #5

5′11″ · 180 lb · Miami, FL

The numbers

517

passing yards · 2026 · through week 3

3 games into 2026 so far

Swing playSwung Northern Illinois from 15% to 44% to win.Illinois State at Northern Illinois · 28-24

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Junior quarterback for Northern Illinois. 2026: 3 games with a box-score line.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Western Carolina in 2023.

The full story, with sources

How he plays

Interception rate: 31st percentile.

The full scouting read

Next upSat Sep 26 · 2 pm ETat Georgia StateCenter Parc StadiumGeorgia State by 10

Taron Dickens

QB · Northern Illinois · Jr · #5

Filling the Shoesas of 2026-09-22

Taron Dickens is a cornerstone for Northern Illinois — measured against the line he joined.

517PASS YDS2PASS TD-19RUSH YDS

TEAM PASSING YARDS LEADER

517

Team leader in passing yards (517).

Read the story so far

Taron Dickens arrived as a 3-star prospect. He lines up at QB for Northern Illinois.

On the field, the headline is 517 pass yds, with 2 pass td.

He inherited the QB job from Josh Holst.

The number to watch: 517 — team passing yards leader.

QB successioncontinuity

Inherited fromJosh Holst

Why nowThe 2026 outlook is the live story — the offseason looks forward.

season totals
Team leader in passing yards (517).
throne-line + Filling-the-Shoes

AI-generated narrative · may contain errors · not journalism · updated 2026-09-22

Career stats

Season	Team
2026	Northern Illinois	56	78	71.8%	517	6.6	2	2	130.8	43	--	--
Career		56	78	71.8%	517	6.6	2	2	130.8	43	--	--

Season	Team
2026	Northern Illinois	18	-26	-1.4	0	--
Career		18	-26	-1.4	0	--

Game log

Game by game

Taron Dickens's 2026 production

Point color shows the opponent's defensive strength that week (red = weaker defense, blue = stronger) — dashed line is this player's own season average.

Source CFB Zeitgeist · player_game_stats + power_ratings_weekly

Game log · Week-by-week

2026 season · 3 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	L 0-40@ Iowa	9/14	96	0	1	6.9	—
Wk 2	L 24-28vs Illinois State	22/27	193	1	1	7.1	31.7
Wk 3	L 17-42@ Arizona	25/37	228	1	0	6.2	72.2	Season-high 228 yds
Total		56/78	517	2	2	6.7	52.0

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 1 · Iowa · 2&6 · Q2 · EPA -5.03(13:22) Shotgun #5 T.Dickens pass intercepted by #8 D.Lee at Iowa38 #8 D.Lee return 17 yards to the NIU45 (#9 G.Dimopoulos)
Week 1 · Iowa · 3&4 · Q4 · EPA -4.77(14:56) Shotgun #5 T.Dickens rush right for 2 yards gain to the Iowa36 fumbled by #5 T.Dickens at Iowa37 forced by #92 B.Stevenson recovered by Iowa #20 T.Hudkins at Iowa36, End Of Play
Week 2 · Illinois State · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA -4.69(00:25) No Huddle-Shotgun #5 T.Dickens pass intercepted by #8 D.Dubose at ISU25, End Of Play
Week 3 · Arizona · 4&10 · Q3 · EPA -4.10(00:46) Shotgun #5 T.Dickens sacked for loss of 10 yards to the ARIZ20 (#48 C.Blomstrom, #6 T.Brown), TURNOVER ON DOWNS
Week 3 · Arizona · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +4.01Cam Thompson 52 Yd pass from Taron Dickens (JJ Schlenhardt Kick)
Week 1 · Iowa · 3&17 · Q4 · EPA +3.70(00:03) Shotgun #5 T.Dickens pass complete short left to #19 K.McInerney caught at Iowa46, for 17 yards to the Iowa34 (#12 B.Weivoda), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
Week 3 · Arizona · 3&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.25(03:23) Shotgun #5 T.Dickens pass complete short right to #3 R.Taylor Jr. caught at ARIZ48, for 21 yards to the ARIZ30 (#48 C.Blomstrom), 1ST DOWN
Week 3 · Arizona · 3&11 · Q4 · EPA +2.99(06:43) Shotgun #5 T.Dickens pass complete short right to #88 Z.McKinney caught at ARIZ38, for 12 yards to the ARIZ38 (#35 Q.Olson), 1ST DOWN
Week 2 · Illinois State · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA +2.98(11:35) No Huddle-Shotgun #5 T.Dickens pass complete deep left to #0 L.Bryant caught at ISU42, for 36 yards to the ISU42, End Of Play, 1ST DOWN
Week 2 · Illinois State · 4&2 · Q2 · EPA +2.85DeAree Rogers 2 Yd pass from Taron Dickens (JJ Schlenhardt Kick)

2026 snapshot

Since week 2: +228 passing yards, +1 passing TD.

Season context · Team result + system

2026Northern Illinois0-3HC: Rob Harley · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: completion % (83rd percentile). Concern: sack rate (5th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Interception rate#51 / 74 · 31st pct

2.6%

EPA / dropback#59 / 74 · 21st pct

0.11

Success rate#59 / 74 · 20th pct

40.7%

Explosive rate#68 / 74 · 9th pct

6.4%

Sack rate#71 / 74 · 5th pct

9.3%

Box-score rates (8)

Completion %#12 / 64 · 83rd pct

71.8%

Fumbles lost#9 / 39 · 49th pct

Interceptions#30 / 64 · 41st pct

Rush TDs#40 / 64 · 20th pct

Yards / att#53 / 64 · 18th pct

6.6

Rush yards#61 / 64 · 6th pct

-26

Pass TDs#60 / 64 · 4th pct

Pass yards#64 / 64 · 2nd pct

517

Season trend

EPA / dropback— first qualifying season

Success rate— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Sack rate— first qualifying season

Interception rate— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Passing profile

Pass Profile · True throw depth (charted plays)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

56/78 (71.8%) · 2 TD · 2 INT

78 of 78 attempts matched to play-by-play

76 of 78 attempts charted for true throw depth

Adjusted ANY/A

4.81112 of 126 QBs

Sack rate

9.3%117 of 126 QBs

Sacked on 9.3% of dropbacks (117 of 126) and Adjusted ANY/A trails the field (112 of 126).

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

18% of attempts (14)

93%comp1 INT

Air -2.4 · YAC 6.3 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

53% of attempts (40)

80%comp

Air 3.7 · YAC 4.3 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

16% of attempts (12)

67%comp

Air 13.3 · YAC 3.0 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

13% of attempts (10)

10%comp1 INT

Air 31.1 · YAC 0.0 avg

Overall 71.8% completion on 78 attempts · 10% completion on 10 deep attempts (20+ air yds).

Passer rating

Zeitgeist Passer Rating

2026 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.

Thin sample: 65 dropbacks

43Zeitgeist Passer Ratingnot ranked until 125 dropbacks

--NCAA passer ratingno box-score line yet

Positive-play rate weight 24%

50.9%87th pct of FBS QBs

share of dropbacks that gained expected points · -4.4% schedule adj.

Yards per attempt weight 56%

5.334th pct of FBS QBs

sacks excluded · -1.1 schedule adj.

Sack rate weight 21% (penalty)

5.0%61th pct of FBS QBs

the input passer rating cannot see · +0.4% schedule adj.

Opponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (21 of 86 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. Scaled against the 2025 FBS population until enough 2026 QBs qualify. How ZPR is built.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2026 season · 3 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home1g	193	1.0	7.1	1.0
Road2g	162	0.5	6.6	0.5

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-73g	172	0.7	6.7	0.7

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Rob Harley

Pass share

51.9%

97 pass / 90 run

Plays / game

62.3

3 games

Scheme: Balanced.

Awards

Player standing · 2026

Backup

On the two-deep and pushing for snaps.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

2023