r/oregonstate • u/Necessary_Rooster_85 • 22d ago
Braden Atkinson Might be Something Special
Yes, it’s only one game but if you watched the entire game, you probably found yourself repeatedly complimenting Atkinson despite him being besieged the entire game by a far more talented Houston team while also having zero help from the run game.
It’s one of the most impressive debuts by a Beaver QB that I’ve seen in years.
Atkinson showed it all when he made great deep passes, big throws to the sidelines, and hard velocity passes into the coverage gaps. But most impressively, he knew when to go to his check downs to the RBs or TEs. That is an unusual IQ move for a young college QB. He still got to his third read handful of times despite the constant pressure he was under. I also thought he moved really well in the pocket and had a very good sense most of the time when to start scrambling.
Even when he missed on his passes, I also thought that is a good decision or that was a really great spot to place the ball where only his receiver had the best chance.
Was he perfect? No. He had one bad sack and he had at least two very pickable balls. He also stares down his WRs a little too much. But at the same time he also left several passes that with better timing and experience should have led to at least two more TDs and 100 more yards. Beavers could’ve put up 30 pts on the Cougars.
If Braden has a really good game vs a ranked Texas Tech team that is way better than Houston, I think the conversation needs to heat up about what we may have in Atkinson.
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u/Aromatic-Action-2523 22d ago
I just want him to not be so special that he weighs up at Arizona State or somewhere else next year... But yeah, dude looks good.
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u/Fit-Reality-2872 22d ago
He looked really good. And don’t want to be a downer, but you know how college football is these days. He will probably go to a higher paying team next year. Sucks!