Atkinson climbs overlooked recruit rankings to NCAA’s No. 1 passer
PHOTO: Oregon State’s Braden Atkinson, lightly recruited out of high school, leads the nation passing.
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Thomas Shanahan | @Thomas-Shanahan-23
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By TOM SHANAHAN
Alabama receiver Noah Rogers’ eye for quarterback talent never looked sharper than in the 2026 season. Long ago, he spotted the talent the rest of the nation now views as the NCAA’s leading passer, Oregon State’s Braden Atkinson.
Back in 2022, Rogers entered his senior season at Rolesville High as one of the nation’s top recruits. But quarterback Byrum Brown graduated and was at South Florida (he’s now at Auburn, where he led the Tigers to an upset of then-No. 1-ranked Georgia). Rogers was without an experienced quarterback to get him the ball. He was asked about Rolesville turning to Atkinson for his first varsity season as a sophomore.
“Don’t worry about Braden,” Rogers said. “He’s going to be good.”
Good? How about fantatic!
Atkinson is now a sophomore at Oregon State and, through seven games, has thrown for 2,604 yards (372.0 per game) and 24 touchdowns with only two interceptions. He’s completing 69 percent of his passes (189 of 273) and is on a 12-game pace for 4,464 yards. The Rolesville alum leads all NCAA Division I quarterbacks in passing yards and passing touchdowns.
In three varsity seasons at Rolesville (2022-24), Atkinson totaled 9,472 yards, 121 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. As a senior in 2024, he led the Rams to the N.C. High School Athletics Association title game in the large school 4A Division.
So, where did Atkinson rank coming out of Rolesville among the Class of 2024? He was the No. 1,307 player in the nation. He had offers from Boston College and Miami of Ohio, but no other FBS schools, including the Triangle schools with Rolesville in their backyard.
Click here for the remainder of the story on HighSchoolOT:
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NOTE: All facts cited in this story were researched by me as part of writing “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans” and “The RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.”
I’ll put my facts on the true pioneers of college football integration versus Bear Bryant fairytales against anybody, anytime, anywhere. Watch here.
Click here for my first-place FWAA story on the 1962 Rose Bowl, Segregation and Alabama.
— Tom Shanahan is an award-winning sportswriter with two books on college football integration, “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans,” and “THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.” They are the most accurate accounts of college football integration in the 1950s and 1960s. They also debunk myths about the 1970 USC-Alabama game. The false narrative co-opted the stories of the true pioneers who stood up to Jim Crow and the KKK.
— Two children’s books also explain Michigan State College Football Hall of Fame coach Duffy Daugherty’s impact on integration through the Underground Railroad and the Hawaiian Pipeline: “DUFFY’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD” and “HOW DUFFY PUT HAWAII ON AMERICA’S FOOTBALL MAP.”
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PURCHASE LINKS, non-fiction books
— RAYE OF LIGHT, August Publications or on Amazon.
— THE RIGHT THING TO DO, August Publications or on Amazon.
PURCHASE LINKS, children’s books
— DUFFY’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, Order from Barnes and Noble here and Amazon here.
— HOW DUFFY PUT HAWAII ON AMERICA’S FOOTBALL MAP, coming soon on Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
